How to Affair-Proof Your Marriage

Falling in love is easy. It’s the staying in love that takes hard work and commitment. Using some simple strategies, you can affair-proof your marriage.

Dr. Liz Hale shares six ways to ensure your marriage doesn’t include affair and betrayal.

“Affair-Proof” Your Marriage

There’s a reason why romantic comedies end before “real life” begins. The truth is, falling in love is easy; staying in love takes effort! There are ways to protect your marriage against betrayal.

Here are six tips that can help you “affair-proof” your marriage.

1. Accentuate the positive; minimize the negative

Loyalty is about nurturing gratitude for what you have. The key is to cherish your spouse. This requires both partners to make a conscious decision to maximize their partner’s positive qualities and minimize their negative.

2. Build trust to protect and empower

Developing trust comes through sliding-door moments, coined by Dr. John Gottman. Think of a sliding-door. One partner expresses a need for connection. The other partner’s response to that need is either to slide the door open and walk through the door (towards intimacy or contact with their spouse) or keep it shut and walk away.

3. Embrace sliding-door bids

Expressions and bids for contact happen as partners ask for understanding and support. This could be through words or actions. A small bid would be something like, “isn’t that a lovely flower?” or as intimate as “I need you” after a tough day. Each bid offers an opportunity to step through the door.

Of course, partners will not always be able to step through each and every sliding-door moment. They could be busy, preoccupied or just not paying attention to the bid. A relationship is in jeopardy when most of these opportunities or bids are missed.

4. Utilize honesty to heal hurts

In 1922 research entitled the “Ziergarnek Effect” determined we have better recall for events that have not been dealt with or completed. Our unfinished business leaves unhealed wounds. Negativity grabs our attention and puts our brain on watch, keeping us highly alert to further unsafe situation.

5. Comfort, care, and connect

Happy couples comfort, care, and connect quickly. They acknowledge that they need each other. The need for connection and love is not weak or co-dependent; it is a biologically wired-in need. Instead of saying, “you are never there for me,” they say, “I miss you; let’s spend more time together.”

6. Own faults and apologize

A quality of happy couples is the ability to recognize faults and apologize quickly. Healthy relationships show actual eagerness to say sorry when they’ve been hurtful. These couples have learned the power of vulnerability; admitting they’re wrong enhances rather than detracts from their self-esteem. Being accountable and respectful is empowering!