4 hot ways to Grow your Relationship from Good to Great!

So you are still looking for that elusive man or woman of your dreams.
Or maybe you have already spotted him/her.
Maybe you have even managed a second or third date with that person.
Or you have snagged the birdie already - you are married!
There are four ways that you can grow your relationship from good, (or even average) to great!
Now, you understand that none of us come "ready" when it comes to building a strong relationship.
But I've found that most of us reckon that we know a little more than we actually do.
While we understand that it'll take a lot hard work to grow and strengthen the relationship, we also mistakenly believe that the hard work involves changing the other person to be what we want them to be!
Nonetheless, even a honeymooner begins to realize early that it's impossible, not to mention incredibly heartbreaking, to try and change another person. (Previous spectacular heartbreaks do not deter some of us however).
So today lets put together our 'me-focused' thinking caps, let the other person off the hook (for once) and just see how we can can take our relationships from good or average to great..without breaking the other person's back in the process.
To take your relationship from good (or average) to great, you must

• Like relating
   

I liked the idea of relating when I was single alright. I looked forward to finding the 'right guy'.
But I was quite clueless on what 'relating' entailed.
I was like most of us, who think that just because we are in a relationship (or would like to be in one) means that we actually like relating.
But most of us ( like most normal human beings) are more self-centered than others-centered.
Yes we even like (the idea of) relating to other people.
But on our own terms.
But being in a relationship means falling in love with the idea of leaving our cushy planet..and heading off to our beloveds. And being willing to start off without a complete kit or briefing about our destination and having to rely a whole lot on hope and common sense.
Relating means completely understanding that you cannot conduct relationship business on your own terms.

• Be well first

Seems like an obvious one. But you will be shocked by the number of people out there who are seeking to recruit a new member into their team while their hearts or lives are all messed up.
No, am not talking about the normal "concerns and irritations" that show up post-wedding. But the really big things like a single person who will not to get over past hurts but lives on constant rebounds to the married person who is addicted to the speck in their spouse's eye but studiously ignores the plank in their own eye.