Recently my wife and I took a weekend to reorganize our office and the work spaces at home. As a guy who still wears some shirts from 20 years ago, I didn’t feel a strong compulsion to need to change things in our offices. However, I can’t tell you how invigorated my wife was by our doing this. I found that I was energized because she was. It was contagious.

There are times when our relationships can also benefit from some “furniture rearranging.” I am talking about ways to inject freshness into our routines. I want to suggest a couple of ideas today.

1) Try the unexpected (in a positive sense). After you have been married for a while, it is pretty easy to know each other’s habits and routines. You know the process he goes through every evening when he gets home from work. How she begins her day is as predictable as the clock. But what happens if you bring her flowers – for no reason? It’s not Valentine’s Day or anything. Or what if you surprise him with his favorite candy when you come home from the store? These may not be earth-shattering events but they are out of the norm and communicate “I love you and I was thinking about you.” They are energizing.

2) Create novelty. Maybe you sit on the couch every night and watch Netflix. What if instead, tonight you go for a walk, read a book out loud together, or play a game? Again, this isn’t a major event but it doesn’t have to be to make a difference.

There are numerous ways to “rearrange the furniture” in your relationship; these are only two suggestions to prime the pump of your creative thinking. But the energy just might be contagious. If you come up with some ideas that work, I would love to hear about them.