We are all familiar with the recommendations for remote work at home - regarding workplace requirements and keeping the body in active physical shape. And specific actions are proposed: airing the room, daily wet cleaning, regular exercise. Also, in addition to body hygiene and home hygiene, it is also necessary to observe mental hygiene. This is especially difficult, but at the same time vital, if both partners are at home, and the skill of being close to each other 24/7 has been lost (when it was a honeymoon!). And for some, the family is in crisis... It is for such cases that specific exercises for couples from the collection “Homework for Spouses in Crisis” are suitable. I’ll write just a couple here to begin with. If you need more exercises during quarantine or remote work, ask for the continuation of “Homework for Spouses.” So, exercises. A symbol of our unanimity Find in your home a thing that could be a symbol of your unanimity with your partner. Which, for example, was purchased at the instant mutual desire of you and your partner. Where is this thing now? How are you using it now? Do you remember how it was purchased? Where was it, in what city, area, store? Do you remember the seller who sold you this item? Did this thing live up to your plans and hopes? If possible, place this symbol thing in a prominent place and keep it there for several days. And then decide together where it will be stored and how it will be used. Don’t be embarrassed, talk about it together, even if it’s such prosaic and everyday things as, for example, a vacuum cleaner or a kettle. Checkerboard series is recommended for couples complaining about the loss of a “common language.” Couples who have lived together for 10 years often make such complaints. Background. I don't remember what series it was. But everyone from my immediate circle watched it, which is very rare. And somehow it happened that only I watched the next episode, and one evening I had to tell the “summary of the previous episode” to three people at once: my daughter, my husband and my mother. I was surprised to discover that I told all three of them the same thing in different ways, “in different languages,” with an emphasis on different details. And all three listening understood me. I clearly, as if by touch, understood what different information layers I used. With different words, clarifications, and, unconsciously, automatically, easily. They appear to have developed gradually, strengthened by everyday dialogues and interactions. So, naturally, an exercise was invented for married couples in which communication is disrupted, mutual understanding is lost, when they say: “We don’t understand each other, we speak different languages.” So, the exercise. Start watching a new series. In my opinion, it would be better to do something domestic (to make it easier with the names of the characters) and not long, in order to take a break, “digest” the experience and, if you wish, start with the next series (if you have problems choosing a series, I recommend a specific one, write). Watch the first one or two episodes together. And the next ones are in staggered order: the third episode is watched by someone alone and tells it to their partner. Then it’s the other way around: the second one watches the fourth episode and also tells it to the first one. And so - until the end of the series, one by one. I guarantee a new understanding of your partner) Of course, the pleasure from watching the series will be partially lost, but this work is worth it. The difference in understanding the meanings, plot lines, highlighting the main thing will reveal your different perception of the environment. You will feel it, as I already said, almost to the touch. And working with the mindset to speak for your partner in such a way that he clearly understands will not be about painful topics from your personal life, but indirectly, through the plot of the film. Figuratively speaking, family life is held together by “three pillars” - 1) sex that suits both partners, 2) friendship between spouses and 3) a joint project. So, this exercise is to strengthen friendship between partners when: common friends, speaking the same language, common interests, opportunity.