Oh no! Valentine’s Day again! - The need for romance

<p>Wherever you stand on the idea of Valentine&apos;s Day, attending to romance in your relationship is important for at least two reasons: to keep the relationship alive, exciting and fun and to continue deepening the connection between you. Ideally you pay attention to romance not just one day in the year but throughout your relationship.<br/><br/>Romance has different connotations for everybody; we all like to be romanced in different ways.  For some people romance is more closely associated with the idea of excitement, mystery and passion; for others it is about the deep, steady and safe bond of love.<br/><br/>Our way of thinking about romance is influenced by the Romantic period in the 18th/19th century. As an antidote to the previous period of rationalism key features of the Romantic period where a celebration of the emotional, spontaneous, imaginative, the irrational and the mysterious often set in wild natural locations that mirrored the hero&apos;s emotional state. Think of Emily Bronte&apos;s Wuthering Height with the doomed lovers compelled to continue falling into each other&apos;s arms in the blustery winds of the Yorkshire Moors.<br/><br/>Romantic gestures make ordinary life extraordinary. They emphasise what is special about the person you love and what attracted you to your partner in the first place. Being romantic means being attentive to your partner, showing them your care and love and noticing their love in return. <br/><br/>Romance often takes you back to the early stages of the relationship where you were  falling in love as opposed to staying in love. These intensely pleasurable feelings of love can be conjured up when you decide to focus on them. Visual cues such as photos from this period may help you recall the honeymoon period. <br/><br/>In this episode we talk you through an exercise in Imago Therapy by Harville Hendrix that helps you to re-romanticise your relationship to create greater and more loving connection with your partner. <br/><br/>And finally... we love seeing our audience