I believe there are a few very important elements to a great, long lasting relationship; Trust, comunication, acceptance, endearment, understanding and a good balance of passion. Trust: hmmm, well to keep it short, once trust is broken it can be so very hard to recover. It can be earned back key word, "EARNED", pretty hard to recover from some situations of betrayal. Broken again, wow, that is a tough one. Trust is so very important. Communication: talk about it, listen to it, HEAR it, understand it or accept it if you can't understand it. one more key, understand what kind of communication your partner needs and understands. How you communicate may not be how someone else does. Get on the same page! Acceptance: "If I don't like something you do, and you can't change that about yourself, or don't want to. Can I accept it? You do something that irks me on a consistent basis. Is it worth nagging over or can I just accept it and move on?" Questions we need to ask ourselves periodically throughout any relationship or things could go very bad over very little. Balance of passion: I say balance because not all of us have the same level of passion including how we argue, make love, show emotion etc... So, we need balance and again the term, understanding, comes up. balance is key to bliss!! "Don't sweat the small stuff"