12 Elements Of Healthy Relationships Johns Hopkins University Student Well-being

Recognize Different Love Languages People express and receive love differently, through words, actions, gifts, quality time, or physical touch. Learn your partner’s primary love language and practice showing affection in ways they recognize and appreciate. In friendships, manipulation may present as guilt-tripping, isolating from others or using emotional leverage to get one’s way. Research in this area suggests that healthy friendships involve mutual respect and boundaries, and when manipulation is present, satisfaction and trust is significantly reduced. Emotional readiness isn’t about being perfect—it’s about being self-aware and responsible for your emotional responses. Start practicing boundary-setting in your current relationships.

Your relationship with each other could seem perfectly healthy. But if they use hate speech, slurs, or make discriminatory remarks about others, consider what this behavior says about them as a person. It’s not healthy to constantly criticize each other or say intentionally hurtful things, especially about personal choices, such as food, clothing, or favorite TV shows.

• That means you want to find ways to express how you’re feeling, practice active listening when your partner is doing the same and work together to find solutions — even when you’re arguing.
• “Honestly is actually the bedrock of intimacy,” says Jordan.
• If you continue to disagree, setting boundaries about what you can and cannot discuss is one way to address these conflicts.
• Couples may use hard times and challenges to exercise, practice, and get repetitions in to strengthen relationship fitness consistently.

Major upheavals and transitions in life, such as moving house, changing careers, dealing with a chronic illness, or having a baby can all affect the dynamic of your relationship. A skilled therapist can offer you the tools to manage stress and be flexible in how you overcome challenges and changes. If there’s been a betrayal or breach of trust in a relationship, it can take time and effort to repair the damage and rebuild trust between you. Having the input of a relationship expert can help you work together to heal old wounds and move forward together. Change is inevitable in life, and it will happen whether you go with it or fight it. Flexibility is essential to adapt to the change that is always taking place in any relationship, and it allows you to grow together through both the good times and the bad.

Because most of us have been hurt, mistreated, mishandled, had bad relationships, or experienced how cruel the world can be at times, our trust does not come easy or cheap. Saying “I love you” carries much more weight when you consistently do things your partner values. Saying “I love you” is one of the most crucial things to do to make your relationship stronger. Watch this video by Susan L. Adler, a relationship counselor to understand the how to make a relationship strong and happy. How to keep a relationship strong and happy doesn’t need to be a long, winding, complex process.

Many people spend so much time looking for that “spark” or that feeling that they’ve found “the one” that they forget to examine whether the relationship is good for them. You must take a step back and learn how to have a healthy relationship before you can find true fulfillment and happiness with another person. Sometimes people exhibit toxic behaviors when they’re going through a tough time, Aasmundsen-Fry says. They can also be more common among those who had unhealthy relationships in early life, according to the NIH. With compassion and commitment to mutually uplifting growth, healthy bonds are sustained that offer fulfilling partnerships for the long run. «The listening isn’t happening for ulterior motives like being able to respond, retort, or prove the other wrong,» she tells Good Housekeeping.

If you’re worried about your relationship, a therapist can offer you guidance on what might help. Consider speaking with a licensed professional if your relationship seems too overwhelming to handle as a couple. Being around someone different from you can be healthy for your relationship, Jordan says. “Couples therapy is about two people arriving to work on themselves,” Antin said. It means you want to work at improving, for yourselves and for each other. If you answered yes to six or more of these questions, your relationship is probably a strong one.

Resolving conflict is impossible if you’re unwilling or unable to forgive others. Don’t attack someone directly but use “I” statements to communicate how you feel. For example, instead of saying, “You make me feel bad” try “I feel bad when you do that”.

Don’t Equate Physical Attention With Love

Establishing clear boundaries protects healthy communication in relationships from destructive patterns. These guidelines create structure that allows both partners to feel safe expressing their authentic thoughts and feelings. «Research increasingly supports associations between intentional practices of gratitude and positive mental health, which can extend to improved relationships,» says Dr. Gatchel. Such practices can include getting into the habit of writing down two or three specific things that you are grateful for each day. «These things can include anything, including a positive interaction with a friend or partner,» she says.

Let’s explore the essential steps that will position you for the kind of love that enhances rather than completes your life. Strong relationships are hard work — but they shouldn’t always feel like https://ukrainiancharms.com/ work. Schedule time to explore, try new things, and do activities you and the person you care about both enjoy. Spending your free time working on your relationship shows you both that you’re eager and willing to put in the effort. If you don’t know how you like to receive affection or how to verbalize those feelings, consider doing a love language quiz.

If your partner responds to your different viewpoint with dismissal, contempt, or other rudeness, this often suggests they don’t respect you or your ideas. Healthy relationships tend to be fairly well balanced. Beyond financial responsibilities, relationship equality can also relate to intangible things, such as affection, communication, and relationship expectations.

Practice Setting And Respecting Boundaries

We could choose to be fair in matters related to the relationship and have a growing healthy one or be unfair and end up alone. Growing up as kids, we used to say, “honesty is the best policy,” but as adults, we’ve all learned to hide the truth. Whether it’s to save face, increase profit margins, excel in careers, or avoid confrontations, we’ve all lost some if not all of the honesty we had as kids. Your relationship is an investment, like the stock market. With the right kind of attention, they will be temporary.

You Create Goals Together

Based on their answers, the women were categorized as having low, medium, or high social strain. Those who scored in the high category were 9% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than women who scored in the low category. Another 2019 study, published by the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, found that women who reported high levels of social stress had lower bone density six years later. The authors speculated that stress may harm bone health because stress raises blood cortisol levels, which may be linked to bone thinning. Troubled ties with others may also lead to other physical or mental health problems.

If you have differences with someone, setting boundaries can also make certain that you aren’t forced outside of your comfort zone. This might occur if a friend calls and asks you for a favor you don’t feel comfortable performing. Do your part to help form healthy relationships with others by practicing some good habits, says Dr. Jennifer Gatchel, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. You’ll need to identify and overcome your limiting beliefs and rewrite your story to give you strength and confidence. But if you’re wondering how to have a healthy relationship, it’s a vital first step. Ask yourself what it is that makes this potential relationship so extraordinary.

As a result, they are passive-aggressive with their partner or, worse, say nothing is going on. Both of these things only alienate a partner and send a relationship into a deep dive from which it might not recover. In most disagreements, we communicate from the «top layer,» which is the obvious emotions such as anger, annoyance, and the like. Leading from this place can create confusion and defensiveness, and it can ultimately distract from the real issue. Start communicating from the «bottom layer,» which are the feelings that are really driving your reactions, such as disappointment, rejection, loneliness, or disrespect.

Avoid Mind-Reading Don’t assume you know your partner’s thoughts or motivations. Ask directly for clarification rather than operating on assumptions. Address One Issue at a Time Resist the temptation to bring up multiple grievances during heated moments. Complex problems require focused attention to reach meaningful resolution. «People were being asked to do more than they ever would and had to maintain a marathon pace for a really long time,» says Dr. Gatchel.

Young graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a bachelor of science degree in neurobiology and theology. She obtained her doctor of medicine degree with honors in neuroscience and physiology from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Take the assessment and get matched with a professional, licensed therapist.