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Happy, healthy, fulfilling relationships are an important part of our physical and mental health (it’s true, love is good for our health!).

It’s true that relationships (and marriage, if that’s the form your relationship takes) require continuous work. That doesn’t mean relationships should feel like difficult toil (in fact, definitely not!), but that there are some small, simple ways we can continue to strengthen and nurture our relationships over time.

Here are ten simple but impactful ways to nurture and grow (or maintain) a happy, healthy relationship with your partner:

1. Enhance your love maps

“Love maps” is a term used by Dr. John Gottman, a prominent psychologist and researcher in the field of marriage and relationships.

Dr. Gottman and his team have spent decades studying hundreds of couples to determine the factors that influence marital stability-and whether a relationship will last, or not. Their decades of research found seven key principles that lead to harmonious, long-lasting relationships (all outlined in Dr. Gottman’s popular and helpful book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work-one of our favorite relationship resources to recommend, if you’re interested).

One of these seven principles is a building a detailed “love map”: the part of your brain where you store information about your partner’s life. Things like their favorite food, their greatest fear, their biggest hopes and dreams, what’s currently stressing them out, how they like to fold their laundry. All the little details about them that make them tick.

Dr. Gottman’s decades of research found that couples who have highly detailed love maps (in other words, who pay attention to each other’s details, and know a lot about each other) are likely to have a stronger, more long-lasting bond. Read more