The Sound Relationship House: Build Love Maps

The Sound Relationship House theory, developed by Dr. John and Dr. Julie Gottman, features nine components of a healthy relationship represented as levels of a house. Partners build upon each level to create a sturdy bond. For more than 20 years, it’s given countless couples the tools they need to develop happy, healthy relationships.

How well do you know your partner’s inner world, their history, worries, stresses, joys, and hopes?

Build Love Maps is the first floor of The Sound Relationship House. The concept is simple: you and your partner should know each other intimately.

Without love maps, you can’t know your partner. Emotionally intelligent couples are familiar with each other’s worlds. They remember major life events, and they keep updating their information as the facts and feelings of their partner change.

Couples who have detailed love maps of each other’s worlds are far better prepared to cope with stressful events and conflict. Those who are aware of what their partner is feeling and thinking aren’t as thrown off course by changes and stress in their life. They are better prepared to weather any storm together.

Build your love maps this season:

• Ask open-ended questions and really listen

• Tell stories, reminisce together, and remember your "firsts"

• Talk about your childhoods and how they shaped you

• Discuss rituals and traditions you love and why they're important to you

• Let your partner in on not just memories of your past, but also the details of your present and your hopes for the future

To see more from Dr. John and Dr. Julie Gottman ➜ Click Here