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Relationship satisfaction isn't built only through anniversaries, expensive dates, or dramatic romantic surprises.
Research on responsiveness and everyday relationship maintenance highlights the importance of ordinary interactions in which partners acknowledge and respond to each other's needs and attempts at connection.
Remembering something they mentioned, checking how an important event went, or paying attention during an ordinary conversation can carry meaning.
Grand gestures are memorable because they're unusual.
Relationships, however, are mostly lived during the ordinary days between them.
© The Gottman Institute