What it takes to be a couple that flourishes!

So here's my take and some rich tips regarding relationships, specifically being a couple, or the lost art of even being a couple. And according to a definition online, when it comes to a couple, it's real simple: it's two individuals of the same sort considered together. Now obviously, as a couple You have found mutual likes, mutual adventures, mutual goals and dreams, mutual values and morals, and even some differences between the two that caused you to decide to merge and become a couple of the same sort, considered together. But to sustain that, yet alone to grow and flourish that, my take on it is it requires 3 things. It requires mutual respect for one another. It requires open communication with one another, and it requires both parties listening very carefully and very openly and merging likes, dislikes, similarities and differences, wants and needs together as a couple with understanding and with respect for one another. Now, how can you do that? How— what rich tips do I have that will help you accomplish that as a couple? It's real simple. We talk a lot about sitting down and setting goals. Really hearing and asking a lot of questions of one another as a couple of what are their goals at any given point in time. Just like the ocean that ebbs and flows, so do individuals over time. We change, we grow, we— have new dreams, we gain new fears, we let some go, we have new, you know, ways of dealing with crisis at the same time with motivating and supporting one another. So the individual you knew last week, let alone last year or last decade, is not the same person that might be sitting across from you at this very point in time. And you're not the same person. That that person was sitting across from last week, last year, last decade. So to mutually respect one another, you have to be open and hearing what that other per— person's hopes and dreams and goals are today. So then, then you both can decide together as to how you accomplish each other's goals and dreams. But it really comes down to you kind of putting your own wants and dreams aside for a moment to really hear and appreciate someone else's. Because as we all know, when we have an agenda of our own, we tend to kind of lose focus and lose hearing when it comes to what everyone else around us is telling us or sharing with us. Because we're just so anxious to get our opinion out, our want out, our dream out. So instead, what we really— what you want to do What you would really want to do to make your relationship stronger and to flourish and grow over time is to respect the other party. And when sitting down with them, listening and hearing what it is that they want, what they need, what they want to, you know, confront themselves, what they want to overcome, or what they want to, you know, take on as a new challenge. And then in turn, the mutual respect comes in when they are open to doing that for you. So that's why my take on it is it comes down to mutual respect, communication, and listening to one another to then know that you're in this together. That's what a couple means. It's two individuals of the same sort considered together. So if that's the case, then communicate with one another, listen to one another, mutually respect one another, and your relationship will not only sustain but will flourish and grow over time. So that's Bernadette's take and some rich tips regarding relationships. Now we had a great interview with Daphna Levy. She's the author of Keeping It Right: The Lost Art of Being a Couple. So be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch and download that latest episode of Shedding the Bitch Radio. It was a great conversation and she provided tons of great tips and advice for you. And then always go to sheddingthebitch.com, whether it's on Facebook or our website or Twitter, and share your own wants and dreams, your own even topics of conversation for right here on Bernadette's Take or on our radio program or anywhere within our Shedding the Bitch community. And then stay tuned for another Bernadette's Take. Thanks everyone!