How to Improve Interpersonal Romantic Relations

Physical touch and regular communication can help end a romantic dry spell.

Romantic relationships can be some of the most important you experience. A significant other can mean excitement, joy and relaxation. At the same time, these relationships can occasionally incite bouts of extreme emotional difficulty. Couples on a relational roller-coaster can fracture at the strains of love gone awry. Even when you're not on the rocks, everyday irks and quibbles can add up over time, proving troublesome to a relationship. Fortunately, you can bring back the romance and smooth the rough patches with some tips on tenderness and improving yourself.

Instructions

1. Prioritize your time alone as a couple. Make a point to leave the job at the office before entering your home; complete any and all phone calls and emails in advance, and shut off all electronic devices in order to better concentrate on your love. Touch her sweetly immediately upon seeing her. A lengthy kiss or hug goes a long way to encouraging romance.

2. Connect frequently, briefly and periodically. Don't restrict your communication to terse hellos and goodbyes at the start and end of each day. Instead, make short calls to greet your partner. Text him short, sweet messages. Save your most heartfelt words, however, for the face-to-face encounter when you reunite at home.

3. Acknowledge your flaws and ways you can improve yourself away from your partner. Picking out the traits you don't like in yourself can prove uncomfortable. But serious inquisition into the self can pay off in terms of making you into a better romantic companion. It can improve your openness to intimacy and help you break old habits that previously wreaked havoc on your relationship.

4. Take your partner for who he is. At the end of the day, there are certain personality traits that simply will not be altered in him. Embrace these idiosyncrasies instead of working up a grudge based on them. If he never takes out the trash when you ask him, don't admonish him for this, but rather remember all those things he does to warm your heart. This is simple reciprocity: showing that you care can lead to him responding in kind. Maybe the next time you ask him about that trash, it will have already been dumped.

References

• Psychology Today; Improving Your Relationship: LUV LTRS and Other Digital Quickies; Anne Fishel et. al.; April 2011
• Dr. Barbara Winter; 5 Ways to Improve Romance
• Psych Central; Improve Romance Through Introspection; Rick Nauert; March 2010