How Gratitude Can Save Your Sex Life

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." —Albert Schweitzer

I have been studying gratitude lately. In keeping my first gratitude journal, I have learned that paying attention and recording the gifts of life actually fills you up more quickly than you can fill up a journal. It is like a system reset, coming back online with a clearer vision of what is good.

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Applying this to relationships is the most rewarding of all because it stops you from taking anything for granted. It opens your eyes to what is loveable.

Hope is another profound transmission of love. Elie Wiesel once said, "Just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings." Giving up hope on our relationships and our partners is a common defense mechanism in dealing with the imperfections of day to day relating.

Not wanting to feel hurt, we unwittingly choose despair, which erodes the connection we long for. The abilities to love and to hope are close cousins because they both depend on the ability of the heart to risk. The old adage that "hope springs eternal from the human breast" reflects this truth.

There is no more profound place than the bedroom to deeply experience the hope and gratitude that relationships offer. Consciously employing the mental habits of hope and gratitude is all it takes to recalibrate the workings of your intimate relationship. By collecting and holding grateful thoughts about your partner and attending to the small expressions of warmth that transpire between you, you pave the way to finding each other in the bedroom. Continue reading ...

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Read more about love & gratitude ... and check out YourTango's #loveandgratitude Twitter party on Monday, November 19 from 3-5 p.m. EST!

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