Sometimes, it feels very impossible to find someone that is right for you – and also thinks you are the right one for him or her! So when something special that happens, you feel so out of this world, psyched up that you oftentimes forget that your little sister is finishing the cookies on the cookie jar or that your play station is left unattended for 2 days.

It is, however, totally normal and typical to be looking at the world through bright colored glasses and smile at the world in the early stages of a relationship. But for some people out there, those colored glasses has turned into binders that kept them from seeing that the relationship they’re in is not the healthy relationship that it should be or that once was.

What makes a healthy relationship? Hopefully, you and your special one are treating each other well. Not sure if that is the case? Well then take a step back from the dizzying sensation of just being swept off your feet and think about whether what you have right now with your partner has these qualities:

• Mutual respect – Does she or he knows and gets how cool you are? This does not count if you are acting like someone else. Respect in a relationship means that each one values who the other person is and completely understands the other person’s limits and boundaries.

• Trust – You’re talking with a guy from your office and your boyfriend walks by. What does he do? Does he fret and completely lose his control or just keep walking coolly because he knows you would never cheat on him? Jealousy is okay sometimes but how a person reacts when jealous is the one that matters. There will never be a healthy relationship if you don’t trust each other.

• Support – Some people are very good at supporting you when your world is falling apart but cannot take it when things are going right and vice versa. In a healthy relationship, your partner is there to offer a shoulder to cry on and to celebrate with you when you are getting on with life.

• Equality – Healthy relationships understands the need to give and take. Take turns on deciding something and be equally there for his friends as much as he is with yours. You will know if it is not a fair balance even if you don’t keep count. And keeping count of things is also not good. So not let a relationship turn into a power struggle.

• Good communication – Never keep a feeling bottled up inside you because you don’t want to hurt your significant other. Having an open and honest communication is the way to know the things that needs to be compromised between you to keep going in your relationship.  Sometimes you have to take relationship breaks before you get back together.

Every relationship goes through stages. Where and how each stage is develops is ultimately up to each person. While we always hope for the best, we often cannot avoid the inevitable. You are always fighting, bickering at each other but then you realized your significant other was not always like that. You weren’t like that either. Your relationship is not like that before. Your partner used to be your inner core. In this article, you will find the different stages in a relationship and see where you and your partner are right now and make changes to save and renew what you have.

In every relationship, it starts with being strangers.

Stage 1: Meeting

You are in a park jogging and you saw this girl sprinting with her shoelaces undone. You come up to her, tell her about it and there! It will not matter whether it is your first time jogging for about a year, meeting her was like fate and five miles will be just a piece of cake. It may sound pathetic what a guy can do just to make connection with the right girl but it will always pay off with a phone number and you get to know each other and plan to meet the next early morning for combined routine.

Stage 2: The chase

Some say it is the best part. All you wanted was to know more about her and all you wanted to do was hang out and spend time with her. Even if you still feel beat up from your five mile jog and your muscles sore all over, you still come the next day just to be together. You stalk her on Facebook, and you don’t care if it’s dawn or daylight as long as you’re talking to her on the phone. You feel like the only person you want to talk to, be with and see is her. And, each time you see her, butterflies.

Stage 3: Honeymoon

Everyone calls it this and for good reason. It was the time where you can fully express your feelings for each other and do all the things you wanted to do together as a couple. The person you wanted so badly was finally yours. But eventually, the fire you once had cooled down and you simmered down to normalcy. By that time, you have lots of pictures and you knew every detail of each other’s lives.

Stage 4: Comfortable

Being comfortable isn’t necessarily bad; it is when you are both comfortable with yourselves. But it depends on what you do with that comfort. Some use it positively by continue working their relationship and grow together but others allow it to create distance. Whether it’s taking each other for granted or people changing over time, bottom line is someone will soon stop trying and feelings are not as strong as before.

Stage 5: Tolerance

When you are in this stage of the relationship, you somehow feel that the person you were so crazy about turned out to be not so special anymore. It often happens gradually that you would not see it coming but now you’re just tolerating each other. Like when she’s asking you what to eat for dinner and you just answer back “whatever you like.” Then you both will eventually argue. Arguing is one thing but feeling dissatisfied with the relationship is another. You tried to change something to compromise but it seems too late. Like some couples out there, those changes weren’t enough. With tolerance, the relationship will go to a one where it is not bad but it isn’t great either.  If this happened to you, this guide can help you get your ex girlfriend back.

Stage 6: Downhill

There’s not much time left once you’re here. The efforts to make all things work just isn’t worth it anymore. Arguments don’t get solved, tolerance continues, you wouldn’t even remember what you argued about.  By then you are nearing the end of the stage, the end of the line and going to the worst stage ever.

Stage 7: Break up

This is when you both agree to stop being with each other, to stop everything “couple” on you and continue with your lives – separately. This stage is the worst, as coping up is so hard and it will seem like nothing can pull you out of it. And this is where you both start a new path, one that leads right back to where you both started. Strangers.

Are you wondering if your significant other’s heart is still into their past love? Holding on to previous or past memories from past love can create distrust and destroy an otherwise promising relationship. Although there’s no sure way to find out without discussing your concerns openly and honestly, here are some signs that your radar is working and you are not just seeing things differently.

• Talking about the ex too much

Sure a lot of us compare our current romance to the ones we’ve had in the past and an occasional mentioning of past love doesn’t mean an alarm. But if that is happening 24/7 then it is a big problem. It is a sign that they have not moved on yet and may have been so hurt from the past.

• Not talking about them at all

On some levels, silence about a former love also screams out lack of closure. Oftentimes, guilt feelings from having a secret love makes a person not want to talk about it. If you notice that your partner changes topic when you are prying about the ex or that they just never wanted to talk about them for many times now, it is time to ask them why.

• Online stalking

Whether it is checking the old flame’s Facebook page constantly or Googling them all the time, keeping tabs on them frequently is definitely a red flag. An occasional glance is reasonable but excessive online ogling crosses all lines.

• Too much contact with ex

Phone calls, emails, inline instant messaging from a past love can take away something in a current relationship. And it is something big – trust. Relationship is all about trust and if you’re not OK with your partner contacting their ex, say so. It will not be permanent, but it is the respectful thing to do.

• Their name slips out during intimacy

Talk about the worst timing. During intimacy or much worse, sex, your mind is totally uninhibited, making it easy for someone else’s name to slip out. That kind of mistake raises all the red flags for you and also means they are not over their ex.

• Not ready to commit yet

If a long lasting relationship is not moving onto the next level, the big roadblock could be another person from the past. If you find your partner always saying things like “I love you but I am not in love with you” as a response to your “I love you”s, Chanes are, they are still not over a past love. Check out my Your Marriage Savior Review by Michael cross if your marriage is in trouble.