A healthy relationship with your partner is one of the greatest blessings of life. It helps you feel good about yourself, and also makes you look forward to get back home from work after a tiring day.

After all, nobody would like to go to another round of stressful events right after a hectic day at work.

A relationship must be calming enough to help you forget all other stresses in life. However, a healthy relationship is not build in a day; it takes a lot of dedication, time and effort.

A relationship can be termed healthy when two people love and support each other both emotionally and practically and are there in the good as well as bad times. A healthy relationship is commonly based upon respect, trust, open-communication, equality, shared and individual interests, understanding, honesty and mutual care.

A healthy relation has its own benefits too. The couples in a healthy relationship are happier and much satisfied and are less likely to have any physical and mental health problems. There are a number of benefits associated with a healthy relationship, to name a few:

It increases your sense of worth and belonging.
A healthy relationship boosts your confidence.
In a healthy relationship, your partner will always support you to try new things and to explore your horizons.

The key to a healthy relationship is always the communication. A regular talk and a mindful listening to each other’s problems is essential. It is also important to understand that misunderstandings can happen, and they would leave you upset, hurt and confused. But the amount of effort that each puts to keep the relation going, is ultimately what matters.

Clear things out as and when you feel misunderstandings seeping in. Understand the point of view of the other person too, and work on the problem together, in the same direction. We often fail in a relationship when we fight to win from the other, not realizing that it is the both of you against a problem, and not against each other.

It is also important to note that just because you claim to love each other, does not mean that you will be able to communicate well or just know what the other person is thinking. Encouraging an open communication is necessary anyway.
Here are a few ways in which you can encourage communication in a relationship:

Set a time to speak to each other and ensure that the conversation is uninterrupted.

Try to understand the situation of the other person too.
Do not make your partner guess what is going on with you, or how you are feeling.
Tell it to them straight away.
Lend a listening ear to your partner, and also make sure that when you are putting forward your view, they listen to you too.
Know what you need to know about your partner and do a detailed relationship discussion with your significant other.
Do not cut the other person in between their talk.
Be true and respectful about the things you talk about.
Do not be too defensive. Stay calm and do not attack your partner when you think that they are wrong.
A proper relationship talk with different subjects to talk about is essential.

Other than communication, the different ways to nurture your relationship are:

Be humble enough to say sorry for your fault.
Be very affectionate and be appreciative towards your partner’s efforts.
Make your relationship a priority.
Develop shared interests.
Work on yourself and begin by feeling good about yourself.
Find solutions that are helpful to both of you.
Plan your future together.

Even when both of you put in your best efforts, there are times you will have to face the ups and downs in a relationship. It is very normal to have a different opinion, and both the relationship and the person is ought to change with time.

This does not mean that you stop putting in efforts unless of course, the relationship has turned toxic for both of you. Every person is permitted to make mistakes, and that should not be the reason to give up on any relationship.

Be forgiving and invest time. No relationship is perfect, it is always two imperfect people putting in the right amount of efforts and love to save it.

Written By: Gil Avenaim

The author is the founding editor of well, an award-winning consumer relationship guide site with news and features to help readers live well every day. She also writes for relationships ideas and how to handle them. She reads through a bunch of relationship advice books looking for some good bits that might be helpful to pass along to readers. She loves to travel, write, and singing sometimes