#33 - Imagination and reality. Which world do you live in?
We can all imagine the perfect relationship. Your mate is the perfect man…your knight in shining armor. Or, she is… the queen of your world and you place her high on a pedestal. In her perfect world, his clothes all end up in the dirty clothes hamper, the seat on the toilet is always left down, and you get help with cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the kids. In his perfect world, she cooks and cleans, takes care of the kids, does laundry, and lets you control the TV all night!
We can all wish we had these perfect mates that we create in our imagination. The reality is that there is no perfect relationship! They ALL take work and co-operation. We ALL need to make an effort to make our relationships great. The best relationships are always a work in progress. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to settle for less than extraordinary. It does mean that even being with your soul mate, you still have to work at it…it’s just that the work is much more pleasurable.
Think of your relationship from this perspective. What are you willing to do for your mate to make him/her happy? Think about what you are willing to do not just occasionally, but everyday, day in and day out. These things don’t need to be big things. Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. And DON’T keep score! Do things for your mate because you want to, not because you expect something in return. Keeping score is a great way to put a wedge in your relationship.
Everything you do for your mate should be out of love, caring, concern, and respect. Living in the real world can be at least as pleasurable, if not more so, than living in an imaginary world.