Friday, March 09, 2012

Marital-Passion Time-Capsule for Chinese Couples



Sometimes you read about an idea, and something just strikes you. Such as.....Can a love letter written in the height of marital bliss save a marriage down the road?

The Chinese government hopes so and started a national campaign on it in hopes of stemming the country's rising divorce rates. With the "China Post" program, newlywed couples can drop off sealed letters to each other in a state-run post office, and the government will deliver the letters back to them 7 years after their wedding day.

Why 7 years? Reminding couples at the seven-year-itch mark of why they fell in love in the first place, would be the extra spark needed to stay together, and away from Divorce Court.

After some three decades of counseling couples, I would say....NO, a mere letter won't "save" a marriage way down the road. But the idea isn't totally off-base because one thing that we use early in marital therapy, is getting both parties to describe (in some detail) what life was like "back in the day" when their marriage was flying high. It's important to consider what has changed, and when, and why it changed, in hopes of slowly rekindling some of that early passion with talk therapy.