We all need to feel wanted and loved. There are many kinds of love, but many people search for love in the form of a romantic relationship with a compatible partner. For certain individuals, a romantic relationship is a deep source of fulfilment. The end of a relationship, however, can cause huge psychological anguish and grief.
Relationship refers to the association, connection, interaction and bond between two or more people. This can be through family and friendships, and though romantic and work relationships.
Maintaining a strong, healthy relationship requires constant care and communication.
Five essential ingredients for a healthy relationship
There are five essential ingredients for having a healthy relationship: communication, respect, boundaries, trust and support.
All of these elements result in the feeling of security.
Each individual should feel confident that their partner is willing to devote time and attention to them. Partners in a strong relationship will take each other’s feelings into account and are fair in the distribution of household chores and duties. There is a sense of gratitude for each other, and affection is given and received openly. Inevitably, the couple faces any hurdles and challenges in their relationship together, as they see themselves as being on the same team.
So how does one go about determining whether a particular person is suitable as a potential mate?
Maintaining a strong, healthy relationship requires constant care and communication
Compatibility and Love
Finding someone you are truly compatible with isn’t easy. It’s important to learn the difference between compatibility and love, because quite often they’re not the same thing.
Compatibility means that you get along with somebody very well. You enjoy each other’s company, and you like the same and similar hobbies and pastimes. You have similar views, morals and core beliefs.
Love, on the other hand, is a deeper emotion that you feel for another person. It drives you to want to help, support, nurture and, above all, protect them. You know that feeling, when your stomach does a leap and your heart skips a beat! You cannot stop thinking about the other person, and the relationship is also of an emotional and sexual nature.
There can be compatibility without love, but you can’t have love without compatibility.
If you are dating someone who encourages you to discover new activities or beliefs that expand your own self-concept (beliefs one holds about oneself), whose opinion you value, and who is interested in investing time, emotion and energy into the potential relationship, then they are a keeper!
