Yes…this post is a little off topic. 🙂 But Truly if this blog is about Health well that means relationship health as well. Health isn’t just about eating right and exercising. You also must include sleeping, and stress, and environmental factors…etc. One of the things that affects our emotional stress levels more than anything else is our relationships with other people, and most important among those are our family, specifically our spouse. When I was in my single days, I remember reading somewhere levels of happiness… starting from the top, those who are most happy are those who are happily married, second are those who are happily single, then unhappily single, then unhappily married. Really the person we marry impacts our happiness to an enormous degree…but not just the person we marry but how we act after we are married. What exactly is flirting. It’s easy to notice in your single days… you flip your hair, laugh at certain jokes…etc. Someone who flirts in essence is making someone else feel good about themselves. Paying special attention to them or making them feel good about themselves, attractive, smart, funny…etc. When you look at it that way, one can easily make the shift to doing that with your spouse. Instead of the daily routine make an effort to help them feel good about themselves. So now for the why. How exactly does it impact our emotional and physical health?

1) Flirting Builds Confidence and Self Esteem:

That’s right. When we flirt with our spouse we are reminding them they are still of value to us. We help them feel good about themselves. In the ideal circumstance this builds on each other and in turn your own confidence in your marriage and in their love for you will also grow. We all need to be reminded that we are of worth. Flirting does this for our spouse and in turn for ourselves.

2) Flirting Builds Positive Energy

When we flirt with our spouse we are changing the dynamic in the relationship from the daily routine of kids, work, sleep…etc. We are creating a positive and uplifting energy that will spiral upward. It is so easy in a long-term relationship to fall into the pattern of only conversing about the hum drum, and the details of life that we may forget to just have a fun, lighthearted conversation. When we take time to just chat with our spouse we build positive energy. Not to mention when we make a special effort to make someone feel good about themselves we become associated with positive feelings to that person.

3) Flirting With Your Spouse Reduces Stress Levels

Making someone feel good about themselves…feels good. Flirting reminds us we can still laugh together, joke around, and have fun. Flirting keeps you in a generally happy state thus reducing stress levels. And we all know how much we need to reduce stress. Flirting also keeps your marriage alive and growing. Having strife in your marriage has a huge impact on emotional health. Flirting can directly impact this and reduce the stress in your marriage and have the exact opposite effect on your stress levels. When we have less stress in our family it is easier to deal with external stress.

4) Flirting Brings You Closer to Your Spouse

Flirting with your spouse can bring you closer to your spouse. If flirting is trying to remind your spouse they are beautiful…(whether in personality, intelligence, humor) then it is the perfect tool to remind both your spouse and yourself of each others positive qualities. It helps bring those rose-colored glasses back into the relationship (you know when your spouse could do no wrong).

5) Flirting With Your Spouse Helps Keep Your Marriage Alive

Flirting with each other adds an extra spice to your relationship. Instead of the hum drum you are moving in a positive direction. My husband is a marriage therapist and so off course we love listening to different discussions on marriage and such. In one, the speaker recommended to treat each other like dogs… How does your dog greet you? With a tail wag and comes and jumps to you. Basically dogs show their excitement to see you. When you greet your spouse are you excited to see them? Do you give them a big “sloppy” kiss? Of course positive interactions with each other are going to set the tone for the rest of the day and are going to bring your marriage to life. What are some practical ways to flirt with your spouse? Of course, because we all know it would be annoying if we all started giggling uncontrollably and flipping our hair all the time. So here is a list: