It's not a complicated strategy. Cheaper than therapy, and less travel than a Retrouvaille weekend. No books to read or videos to watch. 

"How can I make your day better?"

That is what Richard Paul Evans decided to say to his wife every morning for the foreseeable future. He is a New York Times bestselling author, yet he and his wife could barely spit out a civil word to each other. Fame and fortune did not buy them a happily ever after of their own.

Then he decided to begin each morning with that simple question. Risking vulnerability, like an open palm, he offered to serve. At first it irked her. She snapped back with sarcasm. But he did what she asked no matter how inconvenient.

She felt so conflicted about his willingness to make her happy crashing against her resentment she ordered him to stop saying it. But he continued asking, and listening, and responding.

Then she softened. 

It reminds me of the forty day challenge in the book Love Dare, which leads the reader through two score increments of change. None in themselves are Herculean. But cummulatively they move the mountain of distrust that has lodged between Caleb and Catherine, in the movie Fireproof. 

"How can I make your day better?" 

I like it.