“It is only when you open your heart to the other person that they can find their place in it.”

Anyone in a long-term relationship knows they take work. There are highs and lows, and it can be easy to get stuck in the everyday and forget about the big picture.

Well, if that sounds a bit familiar, we’ve got just what you need.

Emirati columnist, speaker and youth coach Khalid Al Ameri has shared a beautiful photo of him and his wife, Salama, alongside some brilliant marriage advice.

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The picture itself is lovely, but we’re really paying attention to the message in its caption.

Taken in 2014, when the Al Ameris had been together six years, it represents “we went from being simply husband and wife to becoming best friends.”

Being open about their feelings, good and bad, saved their marriage, Al Ameri writes.

“Until that point we had kept so many feelings inside about how we felt in the marriage and how we felt about the way we treated each other, and the more we kept things from each other and hope they would change, the worst things got.

“One day we said we would release every feeling we had, all the negative things we felt towards each other, all the anger, everything that hurt us, but with one promise, that we would listen and that we would do our best to change to make each other happy,” his post continues.

You’re my happy place 💞✨

A post shared by Salama Mohamed (@salamamohamed) on

It worked: the couple are still together, and happier than ever. They’ve since hit the 10-year mark.

As Al Ameri writes, it was their willingness to open up to each other that changed things.

“We saw how we truly felt and the possibility of being apart, and what I have learned is that is the only way to fall truly and deeply in love with someone, because it is only when you open your heart to the other person that they can find their place in it,” he says.

Beautifully said.

We’re clearly not the only ones who think so – Al Ameri’s post has been shared nearly 4,000 times, and liked over 33,000 times.

Safe to say the message is resonating.

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Image: Salaman & Khalid Al Ameri/Instagram