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Areas › Your marriage › Affection and touch
Affection is not only for special moments. Small, regular touch keeps warmth and closeness alive.
He created spouses for you to live with in tranquillity, and ordained love and kindness between you (Quran 30:21). Affection is a sign of the love He placed between you.
الروم
وَمِنۡ ءَايَٰتِهِۦٓ أَنۡ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنۡ أَنفُسِكُمۡ أَزۡوَٰجࣰ ا لِّتَسۡكُنُوٓاْ إِلَيۡهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيۡنَكُم مَّوَدَّةࣰ وَرَحۡمَةًۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَأٓيَٰتࣲ لِّقَوۡمࣲ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
Another of His signs is that He created spouses from among yourselves for you to live with in tranquillity: He ordained love and kindness between you. There truly are signs in this for those who reflect
Qur’an 30:21read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Gottman's small things often principle says the bond is kept warm by frequent minor acts rather than occasional grand ones. Regular wanted touch at partings, reunions and bedtime keeps physical closeness an ordinary part of the day rather than something saved for special occasions.
John M. Gottman; Nan Silver (1999). The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. Crown
Principle 3, Turn Toward Each Other Instead of Away. Romance is built in the ordinary moment when one partner makes a small bid and the other turns toward it. The running total of those turnings, not the grand gesture, is what fills the emotional bank account.
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Frequent, wanted physical affection sustains the bond of closeness between partners.
Where this sits: Gottman method, Turn Toward; Small Things Often (affection).