我在婚姻里犯的五个错误

我在婚姻里犯的五个错误

One of the main twelve themes of my happiness project is marriage. For me, as with many people, my marriage is one of the most central elements in my life and my happiness. When I started my happiness project, and I reflected about the changes I wanted to make -- as well as the resolutions I wanted to keep in order to bring about those changes -- I realized I had five particular problem areas in my marriage.

1. My demand for gold stars. Oh, how I crave appreciation and recognition! I always want that gold star stuck to my homework. But my husband just isn’t very good at handing out gold stars, and that makes me feel angry and unappreciated. I figured out a good strategy. I used to tell myself I was doing nice things for him – “He’ll be so happy to see that I put all the books away,” “He’ll be so pleased that I finally got the trunk packed for camp” etc. – then I’d be mad when he wasn’t appreciative. Now I tell myself that I’m doing these things because I want to do them. “Wow, the kitchen cabinets look great!” “I’m so organized to have bought all the supplies in advance!” Because I do things for myself, he doesn’t have to notice. This sounds like a more self-centered approach, but it’s really much better.

2. Using a snappish tone. I have a very short fuse and become irritable extremely easily – but my husband really doesn’t like it when I snap at him (big surprise). I’ve done a lot to try to keep my temper in check. I don’t let myself get too hungry or too cold (I fall into these states very easily); I try to keep our apartment in reasonable order, because a mess makes me crabby; when he tries to make a joke out of my temper, I try to laugh along; I try to control my voice to keep it light and cheery instead of accusatory and impatient. Confession: I haven’t made much headway here.

3. Getting angry about a fixed trait. This is very, very tough. One of the things I’ve learned from my happiness project is that you can’t change anyone but yourself, and while there are some things I’d love to change about my husband, those things aren’t going to change. He isn’t going to get better about answering my emails. He is going to keep making rich desserts that tempt me. Etc. Instead of getting all worked up, as I often do, I’m trying to remind myself of HOW SMALL his flaws are, in the scheme of things.

4. Score-keeping. I’m a score-keeper, always calculating who has done what. “I cleaned up the kitchen, so you have to run to the store” -- that sort of thing. I’ve found two ways to try to deal with this tendency. First, I remind myself of the phenomenon of unconscious over-claiming; i.e., we unconsciously overestimate our contributions or skills relative to other people’s. This makes sense, because of course we’re far more aware of what we do than what other people do. According to Jonathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis, “when husbands and wives estimate the percentage of housework each does, their estimates total more than 120 percent.” I complain about the time I spend organizing babysitting or paying bills, but I overlook the time my husband spends dealing with our car or food-shopping.

It’s easy to see that over-claiming leads to resentment and an inflated sense of entitlement. So now when I find myself thinking, “I’m the only one around here who bothers to…” or “Why do I always have to be the one who…?” I remind myself of all the tasks I don’t do. Second, I remind myself of the words of my spiritual master, St. Therese of Lisieux: “When one loves, one does not calculate.” That precept is the basis for my 11th Personal Commandment: No calculation.

5. Taking my husband for granted. Just as I find it easily to overlook the chores done by my husband (see #4), it’s easy for me to forget to appreciate his many virtues and instead focus on his flaws (see #3). For example, although I find it hard to resist using an irritable tone, my husband almost never speaks harshly, and that\'s really a wonderful trait. I’m trying to stay alert to all the things I love about him, and let go of my petty annoyances. This is easier said than done. I’ve found that working to keep my resolution to Kiss more, hug more, touch more is an effective way to help me stay in loving, appreciative frame of mind.

What are some mistakes you make in your marriage or long-term relationship? Have you found any great strategies for addressing them?



我关于“幸福”课题里所包括的12个主题中，有一个就是婚姻。对我来说，和很多人一样，婚姻是生活和幸福中最重要的部分。当我开始这个课题时，我也找出了我想要做出的变化--就像为保持这些变化而做出的决定--我发现在我的婚姻中，有5个特别的误区。

下面，和我想出的办法一起，我尝试着去解决他们。

1我过于期待赞赏。你想象不到我是多么期望得到别人的赞赏和认可！我一直追求能把家务做到完美。但我的丈夫却不那么在意，这让我不爽和生气。我想出了一个好点子。我过去就告诉自己我所做的一切都是为了他。--“他看到我把书整理好该有多开心啊”，“他知道我终于找到宿营的打包箱该有多高兴啊”等等这些。--但是他并不领情，我立刻就疯了。现在我告诉自己我做这些事情，是因为我想做。“喔，看着碗柜多棒”，“看我多有调理，提前就把日用品都收拾好了”。因为我是为我自己做，他不必留意。这听起来有点以自我为中心，但是确实管用。

2总爱教训人。我是个火爆脾气，非常容易发火的人—但是我的丈夫非常不喜欢我对他大吼大嚷（真实惊奇）。我尝试了很多方法来控制我的脾气。我不让自己太饿或者太冷（我很容易就有这样的感觉）；我努力让家井井有条，因为只要乱了一点，我就抓狂了；当他为了要我消消气逗我笑，我就努力配合他笑笑；我尽量控制自己说话的声音，让他感觉我心情不错，而不是在急躁地指责他。不过，让我为难的是，还没有多大的进展。

3本性不改，我就生气。这点非常非常难。从我幸福课题中学到的一点就是，除了你自己，你谁也改变不了，然而我又特别喜欢起改变我丈夫的某些他根本不愿意改变的习惯。他不肯好好地回我的电邮。他总是做很多诱惑我的甜点，等等等等。现在我改了，遇到这些事我不像以前那样火冒三丈，转而努力去提醒我自己他其实也没那么多毛病。

4斤斤计较。我是个斤斤计较的人，老是算计着谁谁做了什么。“我打扫了厨房，你就该去整理储藏室”—这之类的事情。我发现了两个方法来解决这个麻烦。第一，我提醒自己当心下意识的要求过高现象。比如，在对比他人时，我们会无意识地高估自己的贡献，或者技术。这很容易理解，因为我们当然会觉得自己比别人做的多。根据Jonathan Haidt的‘幸福感假说’，“当夫妻双方估计自己和对方各做了多少家务时，他们总共估计的会超过百分之120.”我抱怨给孩子找保姆花了很多时间，还付了很多账单，但是我忽视了修车，买食品也占用了我丈夫很多时间。

不难发现，要求过高会带来埋怨，还会觉得自己的负担越来越多。所以现在每当我有类似于“我是这唯一为什么什么事操心的人”，或者“为什么只有我想去怎么样怎么样”这些想法的时候，我提醒自己还有很多事我没有做。第二，牢记我精神导师，法国Lisieux的St. Therese说过的话“你爱他，就不要计较那么多。”这句箴言是我第11条个人戒律的基础：不要仅仅计较。

5 把我的丈夫想当然了。因为很容易忽视我丈夫所做的一些小事（参见第4条），我很容易地久忘记了他的有点，取而代之的是抓住他的小毛病不撒手（参见第3条）。比如，我发现尽管平心静气地说话很难，我的丈夫就有这个超赞的性格，说话几乎从不刁难我。我努力记着，我爱他身上的那些有点，把让我心烦的琐事抛到脑后。说起来容易做起来难啊。多亲吻他几次，多拥抱他几回，多爱抚他一会，这些我下过决心要做的事，很有效得让我一直感受到爱的温暖，心存感激。

你的婚姻，或者长期的恋爱中有哪些误会呢？有没有找到解决的办法呢？