DailyGood

For the last 27 years, DailyGood newsletters have offered a daily email that inspires you to respond to life with creativity and kindness. To join a community of 148,442 subscribers, subscribe here.

Feb 26, 2010

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." --Leo Buscaglia

What Makes Couples Happy?

What makes marriages last? It's the small stuff, it turns out: telling him he looks great in his jeans, bringing her coffee in bed in the morning, sneaking off without the kids from time to time, taking turns doing the laundry. Terri Orbuch, a Michigan-based research professor and a family therapist, spent decades charting the love lives of 373 married couples in the U.S. -- the longest-running study of marriage conducted in North America. The results were surprisingly simple. "Really great marriages are not the result of long hours of hard work, but of everyday behaviours and attitudes, seemingly small gestures that show your spouse that he or she is noticed, appreciated, respected, loved and desired," Orbuch noted.