10 Keys for a Great Relationship - By: Matthew Markham

1. Faith: There's a great quote about love that goes, "Love is born of faith, lives on hope, and dies of charity." Love begins with faith. It's not religious faith necessarily, though it's a kind of faith about finding someone to believe in, a true partner, someone who will be there through good times and bad. Without faith, there can be no love. It dies.

2. Freedom: There's another saying of indeterminate origin that love is freedom. Certainly, love cannot be forced, coerced, or negotiated. This, in turn, leads to the next item here.

3. Attraction: Certainly, there's something to be said for aggressively pursuing a romantic interest and wooing them. But it's also something to be noted when love happens organically, over a natural period time, the result of two individuals coming together for whatever reason. Sometimes they share interests, other times they're opposites that complement their needs, though whatever the case, they find each other.

4. Compatibility: Whether opposites or seemingly twins separated at birth, romantic partners need chemistry in order for their relationship to last. If they clash too often or can't naturally offer things to meet each other's needs, their chances are distant at best.

5. Acceptance: Good couples are often naturally on the same page about a lot of things, everything from how quickly the relationship should proceed to what they need from one another. That being said, nothing's perfect, and in any relationship, there will be things people just have to expect. Maybe it's a guy knowing his girlfriend sometimes doesn't return calls for hours on end. Maybe it's a girl knowing her boyfriend sometimes belches at the dinner table.

6. Understanding: The following scenario may be familiar to any guy. His girlfriend comes home upset after a long day of work, needing to talk about a problem. As she begins to unfold her story, it becomes increasingly tempting to give advice. Chances are, she'd rather her boyfriend just listen. The key is to try to understand whatever she's going through. Just doing this is a way of offering invaluable support.

7. Communication: Good couples have open and active lines of communication. They're able to be sounding boards for each other, conversationalists, and problem solvers. They keep issues from blowing out of proportion.

8. Therapy: This may sound like some new-age trend from California where things like San Francisco couples therapy and Los Angeles marriage counseling attract an almost cultish fervor, reserved strictly for weirdos and weaklings and people with toxic, terminal relationships. In reality, lots of perfectly healthy couples seek therapy early in their time together to address any issues that may stand in the way of their happiness.

9. Balance: In all the years they were married, Paul and Linda McCartney spent 11 days apart. This may well be some kind of bizarre feat of endurance. Most couples need a balance of time together and time apart, lest unhealthy levels of attachment and dependencies grow.

10. Respect: A healthy relationship is not about dominance or dependence. It's about finding one's equal, someone on the same level. In any good relationship, mutual respect is a hallmark.

About the Author

Trevor Womack is the author of this article and a fan of San Francisco couples therapy and Los Angeles marriage counseling.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Matthew-Markham/142774

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