by Tracy H-B

Created on: September 10, 2007

Relationships are hard. There is absolutely nothing easy about a relationship. Whether you are talking about friends, children, parents, in-laws, family, or a spouse, it takes work to maintain a positive, healthy relationship.

Trust that you are not going to be hurt in some way is one of the biggest parts to having a relationship and if there is not trust to begin with, the relationship will fail. Feeling secure in the relationship makes everything else easy. Trusting the other person to do the right thing is a need within everyone.

People need two way communication and from the start they need to be able to openly say what they feel. Even the closest of people have issues with openly saying what they are feeling, what is bothering them, or even what makes them happy. Some how you need to get to a point in a relationship where you can say what is on your mind. If what you say or what someone says to you brings on a whole wrath of issues than chances are the relationships that you are building or are in is not one that you should be in. If things that are brought up causes issues and problems, than you need to re-evaluate the relationship. Two people should be able to, within reason, discuss almost anything and have the outcome be productive.

When talking about a spouse or loved one, in order to manage and cultivate a relationship you need to, at different times, keep a balance of friendship, romance, understanding, and selflessness. There are different times where one partner needs to be selfish and have all of the focus; at these times the other person needs to sit back and listen and act appropriately. However, if balance is not met and one person tends to need more attention than the other the relationship won't work. Understanding what your partner is going through and how they handle a situation is very important; if they need to go through things in their own time, pushing to "rush" through something will do nothing other than to aggravate a situation. Romance needs to be executed by both parties but not every time. Romance does not have to be had 24 hours a day and if no interest is shown on one day, the next might be better. Having romance in the relationship is very important but a relationship should not focus on or be built on that. Friendship is the most important. Being able to talk, share and love in the friendship will carry two people through almost any difficulty.

Talking about the relationship to a third party is important for woman. Men need

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