Ordinary

Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. ~Dinah Craik, A Life for a Life, 1859

I like her because she smiles at me and means it. ~Anonymous

When something is missing in your life, it usually turns out to be someone. ~Robert Brault


Soul-mates are people who bring out the best in you. They are not perfect but are always perfect for you. ~Author Unknown


Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. ~ William Shakespeare


A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.  ~ Mignon McLaughlin


Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.  ~Mark Twain

Today I was reading an article in Psychology Today titled When do I Get to be Myself? It made me think about the many stages of romantic relationships and how many believe that a true and long-lasting love is drudgery. We forget that when we grow together sometimes there are growing pains but for the most part we can be happy and fulfilled in a long-term relationship. Change can be difficult but it is something necessary in order to grow individually and collectively as a couple. The truth is that the more committed we are to our partner the more fulfilled we are personally. The beauty of long-term commitment is that we can rely on another person to be there during the good and bad times.

The ‘falling in love’ or infatuation stage is what we are led to believe what relationships are all about. In fact, this stage is very short lived and when the ‘warm fuzzy’ goes away then we become bored and start to think that the love is lost. This is not the case because during the attachment phase is where the beauty truly begins. During this phase is when the true intimacy begins and attachment grows. When we sense a deep love we feel peaceful, comfortable, secure and nurtured. Of course the infatuation stage is important but if we do not move beyond that ‘warm fuzzy’ then we can never experience the true beauty of deep love. If you want to be truly happy in your relationship you have to move beyond what is set before us in movies and television and nurture a deep connection. This is the connection that will bring you a sense of joy and caring that will be unlike anything you could have hoped or dreamed of. Sometimes the ordinary is where we get lost but this is actually where the splendor begins and where we find true long-lasting affection.


I found an excellent blog that has some outstanding insight about the intricacies about every aspect of romantic relationships. Take a minute to browse though some of the dynamic posts on The Art of Love and Intimacy.