Dwell on what is good

A man named Bill and his wife, Jean, were out with a group of couples, who all started to rag on each other.

One wife laughed about her husband's tendency to get so involved in TV that he doesn't notice when she is talking to him.

One husband talked about his honey-do list, or his honey-do book as he called it.

When Bill and Jean stayed quiet, not adding stories about each other, their friends questioned them about it.

"What bothers you guys?"

Bill answered that he didn't know what bothered him about his wife.

"We try to not think about what we don't like about each other. Instead we like to dwell on what is good about the other person."

Bill and Jean are an actual couple that I read about, although I made up these names. I found it the best possible way to keep a relationship strong. If you let things go so easily and only dwell on what is good, you won't have anything to hold against your loved one.

I was talking with Nate's mom when she was in town, and she told me that she tries not to say anything bad about her husband when she is around other people.

Women tend to rag on their men - and men tend to rag on their women - when they are around other people. It's fun to laugh about things that annoy us. Although that may not harm some relationships, I think concentrating on the things you love about people and not insulting your loved ones in front of others can do nothing but strengthen your relationship.

You might not even realize you do it, but it's something to think about.