Make time for communication with your partner, and remember that greatest gift you can give someone else is to listen to them. Here are some tips for listening with love.

GIVE YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION

This means look at your partner, quiet background noise, and rid your mind of distractions. Don’t be thinking about your day, or thinking about what you’re going to say – next, or ever. Just still your mind, and make it receptive for taking in what other person has to say.

ASK ABOUT FEELINGS

Ask you partner how they’re feeling, but include all levels – emotional, mental, physical and spiritual. This will help them get in touch with their center, and will also bring you closer to know how they’re feeling in all areas.

INDICATE WITH NONVERBAL EXPRESSIONS THAT YOU ARE GENUINELY INTERESTED

In doing this, you will generate interest. It’s not always easy to listen to what your partner has to say. You may have heard this, or another version, many times before. Often we have recurring things at work, for instance, that we need to talk about. Maintain active eye contact, add “uh huh” or “really?” or “oh my” from time-to-time, and try your best to keep still. Fidgeting may not mean you’re not interested, but it may be taken that way.

Learn to express love and concern on your face. It’s very important. This is natural when you look at your baby, for instance. Your heart melts … your eyes soften … you can’t help a big smile. Give this gift to your partner. Show that you love them. It’s in eyes, first and foremost.

It’s also nice to add, “I love you,” or “I enjoy listening to you talk.” These reassurances are loving, and can’t be overused.

MAKE IT YOUR PARTNER’S TIME TO TALK

It’s better if you can take turns. This will allow your partner time to talk it out completely, without you feeling pressure to get on to your turn, and your concerns. In a good relationship, you can be sure your turn will come.

DO “TALK STORY”

Good habits allow us to transition through our day on autopilot. So much so, we forget that our good habits have a bigger strong hold.

Dr. Phil McGraw, TV-psychologist and Oprah offspring, says that we need to, "Behave our way to success." I cringe when I hear this, don't you? It sounds so easy. Yet, we both know it isn't.

Positive psychology, scientific study of happy, confident people, presents many proven techniques that assist in transitioning bad habits into good habits. Here are four proven techniques:

1. In order to eliminate a bad habit, it must be overridden with a good habit. Not eliminated but replaced. When good habit becomes stronger, it naturally takes over and folds into our life. Usually becoming transparent because it melts into our life and we have already uncovered next one to work on.

It doesn't matter whether you want to replace habit of lateness, cursing, or overeating. The habit's intensity determines effort and time required to replace. Don't confuse effort with will power--they aren't same.

Effort is making a variety of alternatives until old habit melts into a new one. The right amount of effort will always be different for you than anyone else. There isn't an exact measurement because each of our unique qualities.

2. Discipline is an exercise of repetition. Not once or twice but until. Until completed.

For instance, writing isn't a natural talent. Yes, research shows that it helps to start process young. Yet, there are female Pulitzer Prize winners who began writing in their fifties -- after family obligations. They replaced their family responsibilities with discipline needed to be a successful writer. They disciplined their way to success.

Most people think positive thinkers naturally flow with confidence. Yet, positive psychology statistics dispel this myth. What's different is amount of time and space they allow when negative habits or messages appear. They appear incandescent to them.

3. Rewards. As managing partner of a CPA firm for 15 years, I thought rewards meant bonuses and paid massages. After attending Coach University and intensifying my study in Laws of Attraction, my perspective shifted. Positive people don't need an outside push; they seemingly have a natural internal push that continually pulls them forward. Sometimes labeled as determination or drive.