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Every Sunday night, also at 6 p.m., we have our RR (Relationship Review). This is a practice I picked up from relationship experts Linda and Richard Eyre during an interview I did with them for our October 2009 SUCCESS Audio Series. During this time, we discuss the previous week's wins, losses, as well as the adjustments we need to make in our relationship. We start the conversation by telling each other a few things we have appreciated about the other during the previous week--it's helpful to start with the good stuff. Then, using an idea I picked up from my interview with Jack Canfield, we ask each other, "On a scale of one to ten (ten being the best), how would you rate our relationship this week?" This gets the discussion of wins and losses flowing--oh, boy! Then we discuss the adjustments that need to be made through this follow-up question: "What would it take to make your experience a ten?"

Recognize that conflicts are essential for great relationships . . . . . . because they are how people determine whether their principles are aligned and resolve their differences. Everyone has his or her own principles and values, so all relationships entail a certain amount of negotiation or debate over how people should be with each other. What you learn about each other will either draw you together or drive you apart. If your principles are aligned and you can work out your differences via a process of give-and-take, you will draw closer together. If not, you will move apart. Open discussion of differences ensures that there are no misunderstandings. If that doesn't happen on an ongoing basis, gaps in perspective will widen until inevitably there is a major clash.

Relationships. The condition that is usually said43 to trump all others in importance is the strength and number of a person's relationships. Good relationships make people happy, and happy people enjoy more and better relationships than unhappy people.

Countless studies have found that social relationships are the best guarantee of heightened well-being and lowered stress, both an antidote for depression and a prescription for high performance.

If you don't know the values and rules of the people with whom you share a relationship, you should prepare for pain.

The cause of almost all relationship difficulties is rooted in conflicting or ambiguous expectations around roles and goals.

A 2003 World Value Survey (worldvaluessurvey.org) as well as the 2018 Happiness Report (http://worldhappiness.report) found that the happiest people in the world have a tight sense of community, social support, and strong family bonds. After basic needs are met (security, shelter, health, food), our happiness quotient is most significantly impacted by the quality of our relationships with our partners, our family, our friends, our spirituality, and ourselves.