Top Ten Ways To Keep The Husband - Wife Lines Open
10. Develop common interests. Learn about each other’s occupations and try to put yourself mentally into his/her situation to foster mutual understanding.
9. Sharpen your sensitivity quotient. Observe your partner for signs of satisfaction, frustration, weariness, etc. and react appropriately.
8. Learn to listen. Don’t pry open a closed mind, but when he/she voluntarily talks, listen attentively and intelligently.
7. Make yourself an interesting and desirable person. Keep mentally and physically fit and fresh, so that your are magnetic to that other most-important person.
6. Avoid the “sore spots” in a conversation. Always approach “danger” areas with proper timing and lubricated “shock absorbers”; that is, be emotionally prepared.
5. Learn to accept criticism in a spirit of love and meekness. examine yourself realistically from the viewpoint of your partner.
4. Discuss problems with a willingness to settle for limited objectives, if necessary. Your overall relationship is more important than winning a temporary “victory.”
3. Blend your recreational program, so that you can relax and “let off steam” together.
2. As a wife, recognize that you need to siphon off tension. Work at being calm and cool headed. The husband should be decisive and reassuring, in love.
And the number 1 way to keep the husband-wife line open is:
Take an annual time-out for a husband wife “retreat" away from home. Evaluate the past and set goals for the future; then line up action with objectives.
Just Passing it on 
Den