Loving Relationships That Last

Make your partner your best friend and you will never have to worry about being hurt. Best friends always look after each other and this is what you should strive for in all your important relationships.

Do you find that you are doing all the running in your relationship? Does your partner do his fair share of the boring bits as well as the fun bits? Who makes the decisions?

Best friends share responsibility for the relationship. This means making joint decisions or doing one person’s thing one time and the other person’s the next. Best friends share the boring times as well as the fun and each make sure that the other is enjoying themselves too.

So how do you make your partner your best friend? You will need to really start listening and understanding your partner. Find out what makes them tick – not what you think makes them tick. Ask them what they enjoy doing and also what they hate. If you enjoy the same things great, if not, learn a little about their interests and if you really do not want to learn any more, find interests of your own that will keep you busy while they are happy with their stuff.

This will make you less needy and dependent on them for your happiness. After all, your happiness is just that, yours!

The happier you are the more you will be able to bring to the relationship. Do you love your partner? Do you like your partner? Liking your partner is very important. Love is easier to fool yourself about but liking someone is the decision maker. If you do not like your partner how can you be best friends? You can fake love but you can not fake liking someone.

Are you likeable? Does your partner like you? If not what can you do about this? First of all take an honest look at yourself and ask if you want him to treat you the way you treat him. If not, why not? Be very honest with yourself as this is the only way you will be able to change if this is needed.

Nurture your relationship as you would with your other friends. Talk, laugh, listen and be warm and inviting. This may be hard when you are tired after a long day but it will pay dividends and like any other habit, it gets easier with time and practice.

The strongest relationships are built on firm foundations and friendship is the strongest foundation of all.