Learn the Secrets to Having a Healthy, Loving Relationship

By John Gray

Finding love and maintaining a healthy relationship can be challenging for everyone. Experts say that you have to have a balance of love, patience, and self-esteem to really make it work. Feedback from our readers shows that the following 10 items are the basis for a healthy, loving relationship. Even just one person's efforts can make a big difference in a relationship. By focusing on these 10 elements, your relationship is sure to thrive for years to come.

1. Honesty

   Honesty is one of the most basic of all elements in any healthy relationship. A deep and loving honesty between two people says, "No matter what happens you will always know the true me." This feeling allows couples to open up and be the best that they can be with each other.




2. Forgiveness

   Couples who can't make up will break up. As simple as this sounds, without forgiveness in a relationship, old hurts often resurface and neither person is truly able to let go of the past.




3. Communication

   Couples need to learn how to talk through both easy and challenging issues. Disagreements are a part of every relationship. To get through them, partners have to learn to respect their different ways of communicating and they have to "walk in their partner's shoes." This means learning how to communicate love in a way that your partner hears and feels.




4. Trust

   Trust is like honesty—it deepens over time. Couples who are able to trust each other don't have to deal with insecurities between them. They're able to speak freely and be themselves, knowing that their partner loves them for it.




5. Time Apart

   Couples have to spend time away from each other. In the beginning, being inseparable is normal, but, over time, couples need to develop different interests and habits in order to have continued interest in the relationship.




6. Friendship

   Couples need to be friends as well as lovers. When the passion wanes, it is the deep friendship that keeps people together. Any long term married couple will tell you that it is the friendship that keeps them together.




7. Monogamy

   Monogamy is one of the founding elements of all marriages. You can't have trust and honesty if there isn't monogamy.




8. Similar Values

   This means that, when you make major decisions in life, you two fall close to the same line. You may disagree about some issues, like politics, but the couples that are the happiest agree about the big subjects, like money and how to raise children.




9. Patience

   If you can deal with your partner's issues and their imperfections with patience, you have the bond to make it through the rough times. Marriages don't end because there are problems; they end because people quit trying to work those problems out!




10. Passion

    Couples who have passion for each other can sustain their love over time. While this feeling may ebb and flow, a genuine passion for each other is at the heart of all lasting relationships.
    
    Remember, a little attention to your relationship each day is what makes all the difference!

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