What Creates and Keeps a Relationship Healthy?

Communication is deffinately important. I would put respect and honesty up there too. With honesty, respect, and communication You are on your way to a healthy relationship:)

I definitely agree with communication, respect and honesty, and I will also add fun! Keeping things fun is soooo important! Spontaneous fun, continuing to 'date' long after those first few dates, flirting years into your marriage, all of these things keep the relationship fun and healthy. :)

I agree with all of these great points! Something more general I can add is making time and putting effort into the relationship. It's important not to get lazy and to visibly show your S.O. that you care! An understanding attitude and open-mind are important as well.

- communication

- being honest with yourself (key factor that affects with how honest you are with your S.O

-Honestly, respect. for both yourself and your partner. it should be mutual.

another great post from @blithesun94 *bear hugs*

honesty. i'm in a long distance relationship and honesty is the only thing that makes it work.

The ability to be silent and content together, no matter the situation.

what creates and keeps a relationship healthy is working on it everyday, just like going to the gym to keep your body healthy, your relationship has to be worked at, through love communication , honesty and sincere and open dialogue.

Hi Everyone,

Let me share to you all an article regarding healthy relationships that might be of interest and for further discussion:

Link 1: 8 Keys to Healthy Relationships

Here's my understanding of the 8 keys stated in the article:

1. Taking Interest - you and your partner not just become interested in anything and everything that is going on with each other's lives but this also means taking interest in having deep conversations about topics that both of you find interesting.

I'm sure there will be questions like "What if I'm not so interested in the topic that my partner is talking about?" or What if I do not agree on how my partner sees something? Healthy relationships can discuss and have a light debate (wherein one of you may agree or disagree in how you see a situation) and the great thing about it is that it would not lead into an argument because both of you know each others boundaries and are willing to listen to each other. This is where listening and good communication comes into play. Even if you find a topic not so interesting, you are still willing to listen to your partner because you value anything that your partner values or finds interesting.

2. Acceptance & Respect – you and your partner accept and respect each other for who you are. From the flaws, the past mistakes, the current struggles that one or both of you are experiencing are all embraced and honored. Lets say your partner got into a spiral of unfortunate events that made your partner becomes depressed and developed a change in behavior. Healthy relationships are also able to continue loving each other even when troubles will arise. It would, at first, come as a surprise when there is a sudden change of behavior but when you are in a healthy relationship, you and your partner work as a team to overcome any difficulties, trials and hardships along the way. Honesty and trust plays a vital role here as well. Being honest about yourself develops a sense of trust between you and your partner

3. Positive Regard – you and your partner look at each other through rose-colored glasses (meaning you see your partners flaws and mistakes as something that does not totally define their whole being). But theres a difference between looking through rose-colored glasses and creating an illusion of an ideal partner and ignoring or turning a blind eye on critical information about their attributes that actually do not sit well with you in the long-term. [See article on What the Happiest Couples are Guilty Of] This is also connected with #2, acceptance and respect, where you can accept your partner for who they are and not for who you think they are.

4. Meeting Basic Needs – to put it simply, you and your partner are able to support each other and in turn, help each other grow.

5. Positive Interactions – healthy relationships have more positive interactions than negative ones.

6. Solve Problems – this is where good communication and how you resolve conflicts come into play. All relationships would come to a point where they will experience disagreements and arguments. Healthy relationships are able to communicate well and they resolve conflicts together by working as a team. Not fighting against each other. [See article on What Makes Conflict? How Are Conflicts Resolved?].

7. Rupture & Repair – this is in connection with #6, solve problems. When there are conflicts, you and your partner make it a point to fix the relationship by apologizing and recognizing each others faults. Healthy relationships do not blame each other for any wrong they have done but rather, they acknowledge their own fault, apologize in the wrong they have done and find a way to make sure it would not happen again. Trust and forgiveness are very vital in this situation because if you do not trust each other and forgive each others faults, the relationship would not be able to survive.

8. Reciprocity – to put it simply, you and your partner made a decision to love each other and be committed to each other. When you have established that, everything else will follow.

Im very sure questions like What if my trust has been greatly damaged? How will we going to fix our relationship now when the trust has already been broken? Though I very much agree that trust is essential to the point that when the trust is no longer there or it is already broken, it makes it harder to fix the relationship; However, healthy relationships are still able to work things out even when the damage is done because of the commitment and the love that they have for each other. Consider reviewing again #1-8 and see what is missing in the relationship.

And with that, what do you guys think?

PS: To my fellow Christians, I was supposed to include some scriptures here to help you further understand #6, 7 & 8 but out of respect for the rest of the community, perhaps I can include it on a different post from this if its alright or I may just place it on my feed or something.

- gratitude - everyday find something to be grateful for in your relationship no matter how small

- appreciate - express appreciation freely

- laughter - find ways to make each other laugh/have fun

- work as a team - think 'we' instead of 'i'

- support - each other's goals/passions/dreams/needs in life

- be YOU - don't lose yourself or let yourself go in the relationship

- live for the moment - enjoy each moment as if it were your last

- communicate - create a safe place for open and honest communication without fear and judgement

- always put the relationship first - not friends, parents, children.. your relationship should be utmost important

- spontaneity - keep the excitement and mystery alive

- respect - never do anything to hurt them intentionally

- develop yourself - keep learning, growing and developing yourself to be a better person, always

- give your best

- apologise - don't be afraid to admit fault and sincerely apologise for it

- be curious - keep learning about them, their work, goals, challenges, dreams, passions...