Building a Healthy Environment for Love to Grow

The work of building a healthy relationship may seem difficult, but if you’re looking for a fulfilling, loving partnership that lasts for a lifetime, it’s work that’s important to do. A healthy relationship fosters love. Unhealthy relationships foster dependence, resentment and obsession. Everyone deserves to be loved and to live in a happy and safe relationship. If your relationships aren’t comfortable or you think that your relationship is unhealthy, there are ways that you can heal your relationships and build a healthy environment where love can grow.

The Qualities of a Healthy Relationship

A healthy relationship is a happy one. It has four basic qualities – respect, honesty, trust and faith. Out of those qualities, other good qualities grow – fairness, good communication and love. No relationship is perfect, and even healthy relationships sometimes go through unhealthy moments. Recognizing the cornerstones of healthy relationships can help you identify any areas in your relationship that need work so that you can work together to establish an environment in which love can flourish.

Respect

A healthy relationship is based on shared respect for each other. Respect shows itself in many ways. When you respect someone, you are proud of them. You accept and like them for who they are, and you listen to and value their ideas and opinions. The opposite of respect is contempt. It’s nearly impossible to truly love someone for whom you feel contempt.

If you feel that your partner is proud of you, supports you emotionally and listens to you, there is probably respect in your relationship.

Honesty and Trust

Honesty and trust are dependent upon one another. People build trust in a relationship by being honest with each other. Honesty goes further than not telling lies – it includes being open and sharing who you are with your partner. Likewise, trust goes further than believing that your partner will not lie to you. When you trust your partner, you know that you can count on them. You know that you can share your thoughts and feelings with that person without fear of ridicule. In a healthy relationship, you can feel safe telling the truth even when it’s difficult and painful.

Faith

Shared faith is a vital part of a healthy relationship. For some, this means believing in the same God. For others, it means holding shared beliefs that power your life and drive your actions. It means believing without question that you and your partner have the same aims and are working toward the same goals, with a shared set of principles. When you share your faith with each other, you are building your relationships on a strong foundation that will hold you up during times of trouble.

Building love in your relationships depends upon cultivating those four qualities and working with your partner – and within yourself – to be a person who respects, trusts and has faith, and who is worthy of respect, trust and faith in return.