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What makes a great relationship?

Updated on December 6, 2015

It’s clear that not all romantic relationships or non-romantic relationship, for that matter, are equal. Some relationships last for a whole lifetime seemingly immune to the setbacks that others experience. In this article we will look at what makes a great relationship and give some pointers on how you can work on improving the cornerstones of your own relationships. If, not to make them great, then to make them better.

To understand the truly great romantic relationship, you must first get over the fairy tail idea of a good relationship. There is no knight on a white horse, no happily ever after and love is not enough to make it work. The people who have great lasting relationships work at it, through the good and the bad times.

Real love

Now I am not talking about the initial infatuation that people feel with a new relationship. I am talking about the forever love. You can tell the difference, from that fact that new love burns with a radiant hot flame, which then grows into a more pleasant warm caring love.

That second phase of love is true love and it is what lasts, creating a great relationship.

Trust

Trust is certainly one of the most important factors in a relationship. Basically both of you have to believe that the other person is “on your side” and believes in what you say and do, regardless of whatever may happen. Now this kind of trust can not be artificially created. It can only be achieved by both of you acting in a trustworthy manner over a long period of time.

If you feel that you have a problem with truly trusting another person, there is a number of trust building exercise that you can try. Just Google “trust building exercises” and you will find a few of them. They basically work by you trusting each other with more and more, then living up to that trust. Until you feel you can totally trust each other. This may be harder for some people and easy for others.

collage - of what makes a great relationship
collage - of what makes a great relationship

Communication

Humans aren’t mind readers. Your partner doesn’t know what you are thinking unless you tell them.

We can communicate our thoughts in many different ways: letters, speech, body language, actions, poetry and the list goes on. Use all of these to build a strong line of communication with your partner.

Remember to think before you speak. It will not only allow you to better communicate your meaning, it will also allow you to filter out words that can hurt.

Watch your body language when you speak. It can be a more powerful conveyor of emotion, than you words or tone.

If you feel you need extra work on your communication there are exercises available, just like with building trust.

First love
First love

It should be clear that all of this takes quite a bit of effort. If you are not committed to making your relationship great, there is no way you will have a great one. I hope you are able to achieve the relationship you want and find happiness through that relationship.

You might also enjoy reading stop self-sabotaging relationships.

What makes a great relationship?
What makes a great relationship?
working

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