7 Keys to a Successful, Long-Term Relationship

(This blog was originally posted on February 14, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

                On Valentine’s Day, many couples around the world spend the day celebrating their love and relationship. Some people will exchange cards and love letters. Others will give their partner a box of chocolates and/or a bouquet of flowers. And, certainly, no other day of the year is more romantic to become engaged. In honor of June being a favorite month in which to get married, I have decided to re-post this blog.

In 2005, I attended an eye-opening seminar at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute about the keys to a healthy, intimate relationship based on the concepts of John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Emotional and Physical Sexuality. In this seminar, instructor Marc Gravelle identified the following seven qualities of a healthy relationship. Here are seven requisite traits of a successful relationship to help you evaluate whether you and your partner are truly ready to take your relationship to this next level:

1.       You like each other. (This is the most important factor)

2.       You trust each other.

3.       You respect each other.

4.       You have good communication, where you can honestly share your thoughts and feelings about an issue with the other person.

5.       You have good sex (each partner gets his or her needs met).

6.       You have similar interests.

7.       You have separate interests.

Notice that the terms “love” and “in love” are not included in this list. That is because romantic love is what you feel during the honeymoon or early stages of a relationship. Yes, it is exciting, exhilarating and often intoxicating; but the high level of energy required to sustain this stage of infatuation eventually wears away. However, with these seven elements firmly in place, you can still enjoy and appreciate all of these ingredients (qualities) about your partner that first attracted you to each other, and your relationship will continue to flourish.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

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