Good Life Tip: Happy Relationships

Posted by Jerry Lopper Dec 19, 2006

The new and growing field of positive psychology offers much good advice and many tips to help you be happier, more fulfilled, and enjoy a good life.

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Good Life Tip:

The good life, that is, a life that is fulfilling and satisfying is characterized by strong and satisfying relationships. Research indicates a very strong correlation between the quality of a relationship and the way in which partners respond to each other's good news.

In fact, this is quantifiable. In happy relationships, the ratio of active, positive, and constructive responses to a partner's good news is more than three times the neutral or negative responses.

What is an active, positive, and constructive response? If your partner tells you that a meeting with an important client went real well today, do you respond with:

a. That's nice dear.

b. Uh-huh, wait till you hear about my day.

c. That's terrific, tell me all about it.

Of course, c. is an active, positive, and constructive response. Respond this way more than three times as often as you react with an a. or b. to strengthen your relationship.

Source: A Primer in Positive Psychology, Christopher Peterson