A renowned marriage counselor, Rev. Dr. Samuel Kesseadu has advised married couple to put intimacy and closeness at the centre of their married if their marriage is to succeed. He said intimacy and closeness were particularly important because they facilitate understanding between the couple. Reverend Dr. Kesseadu, was speaking at this year’s marriage seminar which forms part of Joy FM’s Beauty and Bridal Fair. He highlighted many issues of interest in marriage. He asked a question he said was the most important question in marriage, “why do couples grow apart? Answering, he said this was because people look for the right person instead of being the right person. He urged couples to let go of small issues in order to maintain a harmonious marriage. He advised couples who were growing apart to look for the root cause of the disappointment, highlighting some steps to conflict resolution as acknowledging the presence of a problem, assuming personal responsibility no matter the problem, approaching the person privately and being a peace maker, not a peace talker and avoiding bringing in someone who is not part of the problem or solution and aiming at reconciliation. He stressed ithe importance of keeping what he called the 6 areas of marriage (companionship, communication, sex and romance, career and job finance, relationship with in-laws and faith). He listed things he said could couple build intimacy: opening up, genuine love, communication and close contact. A lot of the issues addressed by Rev. Dr. Kesseadu are captured and treated in detail in his various books on marriage. Story by Mimi Koranteng/Ghana