9 Secrets of happy, healthy, and emotionally committed relationships
If lasting love had specific ingredients, what would need to be mixed together?
What would make it delicious year after year?
Here are nine special ingredients, or secrets of happy, healthy, and emotionally committed relationships:
1. 100% emotionally invested
Caryl Rusbult is a social psychologist who studied commitment in marriages over a 30-year period. This is not a “one foot in, one foot out” type of investment. This is an all-in investment, and it is required by both partners.
2. Responsiveness
Dr. Gottman’s research highlights that successful couples turn towards each other’s bids for connection 86% of the time. Couples who separate only do so 33% of the time. In order to last, tune into what your partner is saying or doing. Additional research highlighted that it wasn’t how often a couple fought, but how little affection and emotional responsiveness they offered one another that caused a relationship to deteriorate. Responsiveness is the cornerstone of trust and connection
3. Cherish each other
Partners who are 100% emotionally invested and responsive have positive views of each other. Whether they are together or separate, they think of their lover’s positive attributes and express what they admire to one another.
4. Put the relationship first
This means putting your partner’s needs on par with your own. This doesn’t mean neglecting your needs in favour of your partner’s. Doing this requires a willingness to kindly express your needs to your partner in a way they can understand because you know those needs are core to your own happiness.
5. Nurture love and respect
Happy couples nurture gratitude for the partner they have. They honour each other and display respect, even during conflict.
6. Best friends forever
If the above ingredients are available, it’s easy to see why committed lovers feel that there is no better partner in the world than the one that they have. A strong friendship makes it easy to weather relationship storms. Couples who have cultivated a deeply connected friendship are affectionate and even laugh together during conflict.
7. Seek to gain a greater understanding during conflict
Before happy couples come to an agreement on how to resolve their issues, they first focus on understanding each partner’s perspective. They focus on reconnecting emotionally before trying to resolve their issues.
8. Interdependent
Each partner is connected and dependent on the other for closeness and comfort, but independent enough to pursue self-interest and share their perspectives openly, gently, and honestly. Even if the issue causes tension or a conflict in the relationship.
9. Calm, stable, and safe
A secure romantic relationship is as smooth as a calm body of water. An insecure relationship feels as unstable as a roller coaster.
