Bonds That Bind

Met the person of your dreams & fell in love – congratulations! Now how about staying in love, years after years, for better or for worse? Ever thought how easy or difficult of a navigation could this path of love be?

Staying in love is the real deal, this is where the hard work begins. It requires active participation, open communication and concious collaborative efforts from both ends. Often folks find the initial thrill and adrenaline rush of love starts to taper down with time. Drowing in daily routine, nothing new to discover about the other person and a sense of familiarity rubs off the shine of new love.

Finding a common ground works best. It could be anything cultural – language, food, music, dance. Sharing similar tastes in music, dance, art does help; as nurturing them together brings out different facets of your love interest. Similarly sharing a significant past whether childhood, workplace or adulthood also cements the bond further.

Finally what is more important is how often this commonality gets visited as life gets busy. This is where the going gets real to keep working at your relationship. Make it visual by adding physically or digital artifacts. These serve as reminders to things you both cherish. Add snippets of this shared past in your talks and make it the ikigai of your relationship, your reason of being together and cultivating joy more than stress.