Dream While Building a Healthy Relationship

Building a healthy relationship is, of course, about developing relationship skills like good communication and conflict resolution.  Building a healthy relationship is also, though, about dreaming and setting goals for your marriage.

Here are some facts about dreaming, and its power to help you build a healthy relationship:

How will dreaming help us build a healthy relationship?

Dreaming and goal-setting live at the heart of what defines us as humans:  being inspired and aspiring. Dreaming about building a healthy relationship means visualizing what you want and taking the action to make it reality. Dreams and goals are desires that go beyond the everyday; instead, they are about the ongoing search for greater fulfillment and knowledge, whether that's applied to individual efforts or building a healthy relationship.

Why dream about building a healthy relationship?

Studies suggest goal-setting can be a strong predictor of individual psychological well-being. Similarly, couples who share a common vision for building a healthy relationship tend to report higher levels of happiness. Developing ongoing goals for your life together can be the difference between a partnership that challenges you to achieve more than you could on your own, and merely feeling like you are going through the motions instead of  building a healthy relationship. 

The Dreaming Cycle and building a healthy relationship

Developing dreams and visions for building a healthy relationship triggers significant hope for the future. This hope stimulates you to plan and work toward your goal. As you begin to see progress as you build  a healthy relationship, your excitement will grow and help you make your dream a reality. As your dreams become real, you’ll be encouraged and inspired to envision new and even bigger dreams. It is a powerful, perpetuating cycle that all begins with that simple initial dream, then moves you toward building a healthy relationship! 

What to avoid when dreaming about building a healthy relationship

Dreaming about building a healthy relationship is never about aspiring to perfection. It’s about a lifelong, conscious pursuit that brings tremendous strength to your union. It’s about each of you defining what is important to nurturing your love, and working to realize these priorities in ways that keep building a healthy relationship.

Overcoming adversity as you dream about building a healthy relationship

No amount of dreaming about building a healthy relationship can insulate a couple from life’s challenges. Every day of your life together will require some struggle, comprise, and willpower. However, long-term goals offer much-needed perspective in difficult moments. Couples who share bigger goals are better equipped to overcome adversity because they know what they are working toward and can look beyond momentary challenges. If you are both deeply committed to a dream about building a healthy relationship, unexpected obstacles cannot completely derail you. 

At the end of the day, dreaming a great dream for building a healthy relationship is about hope. It's about looking at every day as a chance for improvement in your marriage and every obstacle as an exercise in flexibility. Though it will take consistent effort, there is no better way to spend your life than to actively pursue your dream of building a healthy relationship.

Additional Resources:
http://www.healthfinder.gov/orgs/HR2417.htm
http://marriage.rutgers.edu
http://marriageandfamilies.byu.edu/
http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt9718.html
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/healthymarriage/
http://www.uwec.edu/counsel/pubs/bhr.htm
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/famlf2/mf2297.pdf