What if happiness did not consist of having more freedom to choose, but of learning to commit ourselves and give ourselves to others? This was one of the great reflections that Almudena Calvo Domper shared with the families of Les Alzines Bell-lloc during the third edition of the Marriage ITV, a meeting to pause, review the couple’s relationship, and rediscover the beauty of marriage.
Almudena Calvo Domper is a speaker and educator on topics related to love, marriage, the family, and the meaning of life. With a warm, profound style full of everyday examples, she invites reflection on the challenges of personal relationships and the importance of living love through commitment, generosity, and faith.
Learning to love in a society that fears commitment
In the first session, Almudena invited attendees to reflect on some of the great challenges of our society: individualism, loneliness, the fear of commitment, and an idea of happiness increasingly linked to personal autonomy.
We live in a culture that often presents bonds as limits to our freedom. Marriage, children, or family responsibilities can come to be perceived as obstacles to personal fulfillment. However, Almudena proposed shifting this perspective: committing to someone does not mean losing freedom, but discovering a deeper way to exercise it.
In the face of a society that constantly seeks extraordinary experiences and intense emotions, she reminded us that true love is built on simple, small, and ordinary things. In those everyday situations that do not usually appear on social media, but which sustain a relationship over the years.
“If you don’t know how to enjoy a dinner on a Tuesday, you won’t know how to enjoy a dinner in Paris either,” she pointed out to illustrate that marital happiness does not depend on grand plans, but on the ability to value and enjoy the person with whom we share our lives.
She also highlighted the importance of how we talk about our family, motherhood, fatherhood, and marriage. Without denying the difficulties, exhaustion, or sacrifices, she encouraged recovering a hopeful discourse that knows how to recognize the beauty of caring for, serving, and giving oneself to others.
Happiness is not an individual conquest: it is a reality that grows when it is shared.
In this context, she also addressed the role of social media and screens, inviting reflection on how we live our relationship in the digital environment and the importance of protecting spaces for meeting, conversation, and real presence.
A breakfast to reconnect as a couple
Between the two sessions, the couples were able to enjoy a breakfast as a couple, a moment specially designed to converse calmly, share reflections, and dedicate time to one another, away from the usual rushes and responsibilities.
An opportunity to put into practice what had been worked on during the first session: to stop, listen to each other, look at each other with gratitude, and put the relationship back at the center.
Meanwhile, the school’s early childhood education team took care of the children, making it possible for parents to set aside this morning as a genuine couple’s date (soundtrack included; here you can listen to the Spotify playlist we prepared for this special occasion).
An ITV to review what is truly important
The second session, titled Loving and Being Loved, was particularly practical in nature. Almudena proposed that the couples carry out a genuine ITV of their relationship, reviewing five fundamental aspects to continue growing together.
1. Communication. The couple must be a space of trust, friendship, and security. Almudena encouraged improving listening, expressing what we admire in the other, and learning to communicate our needs. She also recalled the importance of helping one’s spouse develop their talents and become the best version of themselves.
2. Virtues. Generosity, patience, order, and, especially, joy are the engines that allow one to continue falling in love. To love also means accompanying the other in their difficulties, recognizing their efforts, and fostering their growth. Even small domestic gestures can become great acts of love when done with the other’s well-being in mind.
3. Marital intimacy. Almudena highlighted the importance of caring for the physical and affective dimension of marriage, understanding sexuality as an expression of self-giving, trust, fidelity, and union. She encouraged couples to speak about it naturally and to value its role in strengthening the bond.
4. Children. The arrival of children transforms the relationship, but it also offers a new opportunity to admire and fall in love with the other in their role as a father or mother. She reminded us of the importance of children seeing that their parents love each other, enjoy being together, and maintain interests, hopes, and projects beyond parenting. The best family testimony is showing them a life worth living.
5. Love with a capital L. Finally, she placed God at the center of the marriage. She invited attendees to learn to look at the other through the eyes of Jesus Christ, to discover the value of prayer, and to understand that we cannot demand from our partner what only God can give us. Faith thus becomes a source of hope, strength, and renewal of everyday love.
Changing the perspective to rediscover what we have
Throughout the two sessions, Almudena insisted on a fundamental attitude: replacing reproach and victimhood with gratitude and admiration.
Loving our reality does not mean ignoring the difficulties, but learning to recognize all the good that is there. Celebrating successes, accompanying each other in failures, enjoying small moments, and looking at the other with the sense of wonder of someone who continues to discover a gift.
“There is nothing more urgent or more important than loving each other”. This idea summarizes the spirit of a Marriage ITV that aimed to offer families a space to stop, converse, and renew the enthusiasm for their shared project.
From Les Alzines Bell-lloc, we would like to thank Almudena Calvo Domper for her warmth, depth, and ability to convey, with very concrete examples, that marriage is not a static reality, but a vocation that is built and renewed every day.
A very special thank you also to the entire early childhood education team, who with their dedication and availability took care of the little ones during the morning. Thanks to their generosity, parents were able to enjoy this quality time as a couple, with the peace of mind of knowing that their children were in good hands.
Because, in the end, love is not only demonstrated in the great moments, but, above all, in the way of living together on any given Tuesday.
