6 Tips for a Happy Relationship

Almost everyone wants to know how to keep a relationship happy and healthy past the “honeymoon stage”, which generally only lasts the first three or four months.  Here are some ways to keep both of you smiling, long after your first date:

1. Treat each other with respect – Sounds pretty basic, right?  Then why do so many people speak to other people, even strangers, more politely than they do their significant other?  Just be really nice to each other.  Stay stuff like “Please” and “Thank you”. ‘Nuff said.

2. Accept them for who they are – It drives you crazy that they’re not as clean as you?  They’re always bugging you because you sleep in later than they do?

Although a person may modify their behavior slightly (pick up their clothes a bit more often or get up an hour earlier), chances are they’re not going to start getting up at 6:00am on Saturday or scrubbing the floor for fun.  Learn to accept them for who they are now…don’t you want them to do the same for you?

3. Have dirty sex – Although Woody Allen seems to live in a somewhat Morality-free zone when it comes to his adopted daughter / wife, he did say something I find to be pretty true: “Sex is only dirty if it’s done right”.  You used to always have raunchy sex when you first started dating – why stop?

If you’re tired and busy, you need to make time to get it on.  If you aren’t able to have sex regularly because of kids or traveling, you can always do things like phone sex or send them a link to a (free) X-rated video clip and tell them you’re thinking about them, which will definitely make them think about you.

4. Make time for each other – If you used to go to dinner every Saturday night, start doing it again, even if just once or twice a month.

Maybe you’re trying to save money like everyone else nowadays and don’t want to spring for a five star dinner or a babysitter….go somewhere a little less expensive or have a friend watch the kids.

You can also drop the kids off at your parents, make dinner yourselves and engage in Tip #3 right after dinner….never a bad idea.

5. Make time for yourself - While you should put each other before anyone else on your list, you need to make sure not to forget yourself.  Be sure to still schedule time for a boy’s night out or a girl’s weekend.  Even if it’s just to take two hours once a month to meet for drinks or lunch, make it happen.

Time away will keep you from losing your own identity, makes you appreciate time together in your relationship even more, and will let the person you’re with miss you (there’s definitely truth to the statement “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”!)

6. Compliment each other – No matter how good-looking or confident your partner may be,trust me – they’re harboring some minor insecurities.  They also want to be reminded you still find them hot and totally sexy.

So when you look at them and think their butt looks great in those shorts, tell them.

Letting them know you think they’re sexy will make them feel good, and will know you appreciate them.  And isn’t making each other feel good one of the most important things in a romantic relationship?  If you don’t do it for each other, who will?

Basically, make sure you don’t take each other for granted, which is all too common in long-term relationships.

Anything you take for granted and stop putting effort into (Career, Health, Appearance, Relationships) will become stagnant and will eventually be lost.