How Cheerfulness Supports a Marriage
Photo by Svilen Milev
When your spouse calls on the telephone, how do you respond?
Forget the specific words. What emotion or feeling is behind them? Are you anxious and annoyed, or enthusiastic and excited? Or do you sound bored?
Sometimes we forget that our partner in life is on our side. The shift is subtle and often happens without us even noticing.
Maybe we disagreed on what to eat for dinner or what restaurant to visit. Someone forgot to pick up milk and bread. Maybe your spouse overlooked an important event for a family member, or worse yet, forgot your birthday or anniversary.
These are not critical or life threatening issues. Its just part of everyday living.
Not surprisingly, couples who embrace the value of cheerfulness possess something extra to deal with the normal challenges of life.
The Value of Cheerfulness
As a differentiating value, Cheerfulness means noticeably happy and optimistic; bright and pleasant.
Some may view this as pollyanna and fake. Such individuals don’t understand the power of this value.
We all live through times of adversity, hardships, and challenges. And when they occur, they can affect us physically, mentally, emotionally and/or spiritually.
A cheerful spouse can be a tremendous source of strength when we are down. They remind us that we don’t have to face problems alone. And they can give us a different perspective that leads us to see the positives in every challenge.
Attitude is a Choice.
If our attitude is under our control, why not pick a good one?
Another way to look at this is by level of seriousness. Far too often we take ourselves too seriously, and everything looks so serious.
What if we burn the toast, or dent the car, or fail to smile at a co-worker. Life is over as we know it!
Seriously, how much of our life is really that serious? A cheerful spouse can help us put everything back into perspective.
However, I must acknowledge that there are limits. As Lori often reminds me: no singing in the morning!
How can the value of cheerfulness benefit your marriage?
Today’s value was selected from the “Fun-Recreation” category, based on the e-book Developing Your Differentiating Value.
