Creating and maintaining a healthy relationship

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  "What are the secrets to creating and maintaining a healthy relationship? The quality of information you use to make your choices about love and relationships, determines the quality of relationship you will find yourself in. Unfortunately, we live in an era with tons of misguided and twisted ideas about love and relationships. To protect yourself from unwanted heartaches and emotional devastation, you need some guidelines and tips to help you avoid the most common relationship pitfalls. You can control the quality of your relationship by knowing what to look for in a person, before you decide to make them part of your life."

  
  This goes back to my post about the Hidden Evils of Dating, where I talked how "it's a good idea to really take the time to get to know someone before you enter into a relationship with them and give them your heart." Someone responded asking, "how well can you ever really know someone? And perhaps more importantly, how well can anyone ever really know me?" 
  That's actually a very good question. I responded saying "someone can really only get to know you as much as you let them. As far as getting to know someone else, if they aren't letting you in or letting you know them, then you shouldn't be with them. And for me, when I'm getting to know someone, I get to know their friends and family too. Cause most likely they will be like the ones they spend most of their time with. It's easy to know someone, you just have to pay attention." You have to pay close attention. 
  
  So, what are your secrets to creating and maintaining a healthy relationship ??