The Only 12 Principles You Need To Sustain A Loving Relationship

These 12 principles can help you learn how to sustain a loving relationship. You may struggle with some or many of these principles, but an awareness of them will help you not be completely clueless when you and your partner hit a rough patch. Mastery requires dedication to practice, even when you don’t feel like practicing. Over time, it becomes easier to get back on the metaphorical tightrope and find balance and progress in the relationship again.

Your inner state determines your dominant emotional state in the relationship, not the other way around. If you’re miserable inside, you won’t find someone to make you happy in a relationship, no matter how wonderful they are. You must make becoming happy on your own a priority — through yoga, therapy, meditation, gardening, whatever. Only then will you be able to find happiness in the relationship.

People who haven’t done the work to truly change may claim that they’ve changed to keep you around (or get you back). This only means they've become more aware of the problem. True change takes time — usually much longer than they think.

No one is perfect. The person you imagine to be better and more understanding than the person you are currently with does not exist in the way you idealize. They have challenges and issues too — probably ones you can’t even fathom.

The same goes for your significant other. If you invalidate the other person’s truth (something that happens far too frequently in relationships), you invalidate their experience and understanding. Nothing will cause backlash and defensiveness faster than invalidating another person’s experience. If you can find a way to honor their truth, you will not only honor them, but you will find your partner more engaged and interested in working on the relationship.

If you become angry, disappointed, or sad because of something the other person did or said, instead of making your partner the villain of the relationship, there’s an opportunity to assume responsibility in your story of what happened. Maybe something in you triggered your anger. Maybe your expectations were too high? Or perhaps you were seeking happiness where it can never be found (i.e., in the other person). These are common relationship blind spots that we all fall victim to from time to time. They rarely have to do with the other person and will continue to trip you up unless you become aware of your internal triggers.

It’s easy to be negative or condescending. It’s much more challenging — yet infinitely more rewarding — to point out the similarities and positives with your partner, and to note their higher qualities. If you water the weeds of negativity, those less-inspiring qualities will quickly grow and overtake your ability to see any goodness in your situation.

There is no rescuer coming to lift you out of your distress. The power to be happy is within each of us. Either you will take the steps to tap into your happiness, or you will end up in relationship after challenging relationship until you exhaust all possibilities and have no choice but to turn inward. Either way, you are inevitably responsible for your own happiness.

We all need room to change, grow, and evolve. The person you’ve become and the person you fell in love with may not have the same preferences, values, and worldview 10 years (or 10 days) down the line. It’s not fair to hold people to how they felt or to what they said in the past, when life experience offers an ever-broadening perspective. To continue cultivating an environment of vulnerability, openness, and support, let go of the past (when you didn’t know better), and learn to embrace and celebrate change.

Love may not look how you imagined. You may not be married by the time you’re in your 30s, 40s, or even 50s. You may not have children. And all of that is OK. Learn your lessons, be open to the guidance of your heart, and let go of the social conditioning that tells you where you should be in life to be happy. Accept that where you are now is where you should be — and stay committed to growth.

The movies are wrong. There is no person who completes you — who is capable of transforming you into a permanently happy person. Your partner’s attributes may complement yours nicely, but they can never complete you, because on a soul level, you are already complete. What’s required is a space for you to explore and express yourself as authentically as possible.

Review the second principle, and adjust your expectations accordingly.

If you want love, you must be more loving. If you want understanding, you must be understanding. That’s the proper sequence — giving first, then being open to receiving. But remember: You must give without expecting anything in return. Also, because the emotional bank account between you and your partner may be in the red, you may have to give a lot more than you initially thought to get out of debt and begin experiencing the flow of reciprocity.