A strong, healthy relationship can improve your overall life, including your mind, your connections with others, and your health. In fact, treat a relationship as an investment in that the more you put in, the more you get back. You can have a healthy relationship with anyone in your life, including your friends, family, and the people you date. A healthy relationship requires a lot of work, commitment, and willingness to adapt or compromise. Through communication, honesty, respect, trust, openness to change, emotional support and relationship checkups, you can build a thriving relationship that will significantly improve the quality of your life. This article provides valuable tips on how to build a healthy relationship. Read on.

Communication
Communication is vital to any relationship. Not only does it allow you to share things about yourself and your feelings, but it also allows you to listen to what the other person has to share. Communication can happen by talking, writing, emailing, texting, writing, or even using gestures.

No matter how deep the chasm, no matter how difficult the situation, it is important to keep the communication lines flowing. Be that with your spouse, friends, parents, folks, siblings or work colleagues, for a relationship to thrive, there has to be continuous communication with each other. Understanding stems from communication because it’s the only way to express what you’re feeling and to see the other individual’s point of view.

Respect
Respect is a fundamental part of a healthy relationship. Mutual respect between both partners in a relationship lays the foundation for a strong, healthy relationship. When you respect people for what they are, you respect their feelings and act in a way that will minimize the pain that your actions cause them. If you want to be respected in a relationship, ensure that you respect yourself as well as those you are maintaining relationships with.

Forgiveness
Another essential aspect of a healthy relationship is forgiveness. Forgiveness means you are willing to let go of the past and focus on the present. It is about being in full control of your current situation. Talk about the issue at hand and try to reach an agreement on how to handle the situation in the future and then commit to it. Even if your partner does something wrong or hurtful, forgive him/her. Remember, you can stumble as well. Learning from the past and not repeating the same mistake is the only way to prevent anger, disappointment, and resentment in a relationship.

Anticipate Ups and Downs
Recognize that there ups and downs in every relationship. You can’t always be on the same page or read from the same script. It could be that your partner is struggling with an issue that stresses him/her, such as loss of loved one, severe health problems, or job loss. Such unfortunate events can make it difficult to relate to each other. Understand different people cope with stress differently and help them deal with whatever it is that they are going through. You can get through life’s ups and downs by not taking your problems on your partner, being open to change, and understand that some problems are bigger than both of you.

Trust
Most of us often find it hard to trust because we’ve been hurt in the past. Individuals coming out of romantic relationships are particularly wary of re-opening their hearts. But truth be told, all relationships—romantic or otherwise—thrive on trust. Lacking trust means you will always have to worry about what others are thinking, doing or saying in your absence. It means having to monitor or control someone instead of relishing them. That is not how you want to lead your life.

Negotiation and Compromise
Negotiation and compromise ought to be present in every healthy relationship. Whereas negotiation means talking until an agreement is reached, compromise means each person was giving up a little bit of what they want until both parties can come to an agreement. Negotiation and compromise realize a 'win-win’ situation and leave both parties happy and satisfied.

Being Assertive
Assertive individuals ask for what they want openly and respectfully, without resorting to physical force, threats, or intimidation. They respect their rights as well as the rights of others.

Final thought
The best way to build healthy relationships with everyone is through staying positive. From communication and trust to respect and assertiveness, the tips in this article are all based on being a good person.

Author's Bio: 

My name is Frans Bouckenooghe, originally from Roeselare, Belgium but residing in New Zealand since 1980.
I am a self-employed Registered Building Surveyor. I identify and report on building defects. I love my work.

I believe that little can be accomplished in life without some investment in yourself. Keep fit, consume right, practice kindness, remain positive and keep your curiosity up. Treat these things as similarly important to love and friendship and I think you have a much better chance to lead a happy life.

Please visit my website www.spiritualzest.com and let us find the answers for you.