After years of watching relationships fail, my parents, my friends, my own! I finally found the key to a perfect (well as close as it gets) relationship.

I tried mind games, bigging myself up to the point that i wasn't really acting myself, seeing others fight over money, other men, jelousy, where their partners are and all of the above scenarios would always end in an argument, later followed by a break up.

So when i got together with my current boyfriend ( It's our first year anniversary next week *aaw*) We decided to make 2 concious decisions and these rules have governed our entire relationship.

01. ALWAYS BE HONEST WITH EACHOTHER
If we annoy eachother, we say it, if we love eachother we say it. If we're hurt/worried/confused we say it! How often have you had problems in your relationship and you talk to your friends or family about it before even mentioning it to your partner- and thats if you ever do. The only trick to making this rule work is to balance it out. For example don't only pick the negatives, although this is easy to do, make sure you also compliment eachother. This rule works so well, because all that time you usually spend second guessing eachothers moods or thoughts, is spent being loving or sorting out any problems. The best part is, when you're honest with your partner, and instead of getting angry you sort through the problems, they're more likely to be honest with you.n Ta Da, no more secrets!

02. GIVE EACHOTHER SPACE
This is paramount, especially for girls! Men (and im sure most of you guys will vouch for me on this one) love to be made to feel special, just like us girls. But what they do not like is to feel smothered! Let him have his lads night out down the pub, or his time in with his mates watching the big match. I promise you he will appreciate it, even his mates will be impressed by your relaxed approach (even a bit jelous that their girlfriends arent as chilled as you!) which will make your man love you even more- guys love a girl that gets on with their mates as it avoids any confrontations. When i do this with my guy, he usually ends up coming home earlier to spend time with me!

Keep these two rules and i promise you will be on the road to a loving and HEALTHY relationship :)