Making Your Marriage Last

A quick search on the web reveals a multitude of tips & tricks to ensuring a long-lived marriage.  Two articles I just came across offer advice from quite different sources - long-married couples and an unmarried Pope!

Sweethearts by Patrick - CC on Flickr

The HuffPost Wedding site article, Tried and true marriage advice, includes pithy thoughts and tips from a select group of 9 long-married couples. My favourite is the advice from 65-years married, Jenny & Manny DaSilva, to touch toes when you go to bed.

And from Agnes and Harry Hutfles, married for 60 years, "You give and you give and you give." And if both are giving, then both are also receiving.

The advice given by the 9 couples may seem trivial, and I'm sure their suggestions aren't the only things that have kept them together over the years through the ups and downs of their long marriages. But as little things that can be done mindfully, they add up, and are positive and affirming.

Pope Francis also has some tips on how to achieve a healthy, happy marriage. His advice can be summed up in 3 words - Please, Thanks, Sorry.

Speaking on Valentine's Day to 12,500 couples, Francis said that courtesy, gratitude and contrition shown towards the other can go a long way to ensuring a lasting marriage. Again, it's about the little things being done mindfully to affirm and respect each other.