*5 GOLDEN RULES FOR FINDING YOUR LIFE PARTNER*
*5 GOLDEN RULES FOR FINDING YOUR LIFE PARTNER*
A
relationship coach lays out his 5 golden rules for evaluating the
prospects of long-term success. When it comes to making the decision
about choosing a life partner, no one wants to make a mistake.
Yet,
with a divorce rate of close to 50 percent, it appears that many are
making serious mistakes in their approach to finding. If you ask most
couples who are engaged why they’re getting married, they’ll say:
"We’re in love." I believe this is the #1 mistake people make when they
date.
Choosing a life partner should never be based on love
(alone). Though this may sound not politically correct, there’s a
profound truth here. Love (alone) is not the basis for getting married.
Rather, love is the result of a good marriage. When the other
ingredients are right, then the love will come. Let me say it again:
You can’t build a lifetime relationship on love alone. You need a lot
more. Here are five questions you must ask yourself if you’re serious
about finding and keeping a life partner.
*QUESTION #1:*
*Do we share a common life purpose? Why is this so important?*
Let me put it this way:
If
you’re married for 20 or 30 years, that’s a long time to live with
someone. What do you plan to do with each other all that time? Travel,
eat and jog together? You need to share something deeper and more
meaningful.
You need a common life purpose.
Two
things can happen in a marriage. You can grow together, or you can grow
apart. 50 percent of the people out there are growing apart.
To make a marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life - bottom line - and marry someone who wants the same thing.
*QUESTION #2:*
*Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this person?*
This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship.
Feeling
safe means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of
having good communication is trust! i.e. trust that I won’t get
"punished" or hurt for expressing my honest thoughts and feelings.
A colleague of mine defines an abusive person as someone with whom you feel afraid to express your thoughts and feelings.
Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you feel emotionally safe with the person you plan to marry.
*QUESTION #3:*
*Is he/she a mensch?*
A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person.
How can you test? Here are some suggestions.
i) Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis?
ii) Are they serious about improving themselves?
A teacher of mine defines a good person as "someone who is always striving to be good and do the right thing".
"So,
ask about your significant other: What do they do with their time? Is
this person materialistic?" Usually, a materialistic person is not
someone whose top priority is character refinement.
There are
essentially two types of people in the world: People who are dedicated
to personal growth and people who are dedicated to seeking comfort.
Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal
comfort ahead of doing the right thing.
You need to know that before walking down the aisle.
*QUESTION #4:*
*How does he/she treat other people?*
The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the ability to give.
By giving, we mean the ability to give another person pleasure.
Ask: Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they wrapped up in themselves and self-absorbed?
To measure this, think about the following:
i) How do they treat people whom they do not have to be nice to, such as waiters, bus boys, taxi drivers, etc?
ii) How do they treat parents and siblings? Do they have gratitude and appreciation?
Do
they show respect? If they don’t have gratitude for the people who have
given them everything, you cannot expect that they’ll have gratitude
for you – who can’t do nearly as much for them!
iii) Do they gossip and speak badly about others?
Someone
who gossips cannot be someone who loves others. You can be sure that
someone who treats others poorly will eventually treat you poorly as
well.
*QUESTION #5:*
*Is there anything I’m hoping to change about this person after we’re married?*
Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of trying to "improve" them after they’re married.
As a colleague of mine puts it, "You can probably expect someone to change after marriage … for the worse!"
If
you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you
aren’t ready to marry them. In conclusion, dating doesn’t have to be
difficult and treacherous. The key is to try leading a little more with
your head and less with your heart.
It pays to be as objective as possible when you are dating to be sure to ask questions that will help you get to the key issues.
Falling
in love is a great feeling, but when you wake up with a ring on your
finger, you don’t want to find yourself in trouble because you didn’t
do your homework.
*HOW WILL I KNOW IF I’VE MET THE PERSON I SHOULD MARRY?*
The
choice of a marriage partner should not be based on "I get a warm,
wonderful feeling whenever we’re together and I want to have that warm
wonderful feeling forever, so let’s go get married".
Feelings,
as we have discussed, have no logic on their own. They need to be
acknowledged, of course, but they need considerable assistance from
your brain.
Marriage means choosing the person you will spend
the rest of your life with. This, as you may have guessed, is a very
long time to spend with one person. This person will live with you, eat
meals with you, sleep with you and go on vacation with you. More
important yet, this person will share your children. You need to choose
wisely. The decision should not be made based on feelings alone. You
need to ask yourself some tough questions. The decisions have to be
made on solid considerations.
Will this person be a good
partner? Is he mature enough to put his own selfish desires aside to
look out for what is best for the family? Is he prepared to be a good
provider? What is his track record? Is he responsible enough to get a
good job and keep it?
Will this person be a good parent? Can
you stand the thought of your children turning out exactly like this
person? They will, you know. Children spend a lot of time with their
parents and consequently pick up many or most of their parents’
character traits. You had better like your spouse’s traits a lot
because you will be seeing them again in your children.
If
something were to happen to you, would you completely trust this
person, alone, with the task of raising and forming your children? This
is not a pleasant thought, but it is an important consideration. Not
everyone dies at a ripe old age with great grandchildren gathered
around the bed.
Sometimes a parent dies and leaves young
children in the care of the other parent. If you feel that you would
need to be around to correct or lessen this person’s influence on your
children, then you are considering the wrong person.
Does this
person share your faith in God? God does not give us children so that
we can mould them into the coolest, most popular people in school. Our
job is to get them to heaven. To do that, we need to raise them
believing in God. It is tough to do that if only one parent believes.
Saying
"This is right and that is wrong, and I want you to ignore Mommy until
you are thirty-five" does not work. Small children ask about eight
million questions in a single day.
The answers to those
questions go a long way toward forming the kind of adults they will
become. Who will be answering those questions for your children?
Does
this person you are marrying have sexual self-control? Single people
sometimes have this idea that marriage is just some kind of lifelong
sex festival and that as long as they have each other, they will never
be tempted by other people.
Wrong!
There are many
times in every marriage when one partner or the other is sexually
unavailable - illness, the last months of pregnancy, travel. There are
also times when spouses, just get on each other’s nerves. At times like
this, other people can seem very appealing. That can be dangerous,
because there are plenty of very attractive people out there who are
willing to make themselves available to married men and women. Do you
want someone who has never said "no" to sex? If he is not good at
saying "no" at eighteen, it won’t be different at forty. Do you want to
worry about whether or not your spouse is being faithful?
These
are very important questions, and if you are not comfortable with all
of the answers, you should definitely not marry this person.
None
if this is to say that feelings play no role at all in a marriage
decision. You don’t have to, "Well, I suppose that you would make a
good spouse and parent, so even though I don’t particularly like you I
guess I’ll marry you’. You need to be happy and excited about the
prospect of spending your life with someone. Your brain however must
acknowledge that this person as a good choice.
Don’t listen to your heart alone nor your head alone. Wait until your heart and head agree.
*by Rabbi Dov Heller, M.A.*
