Have you ever been in a relationship with someone with whom you felt you couldn’t be your authentic self?

Or maybe, even though you trusted your partner, you felt like you couldn’t share with them all of your thoughts and feelings?

If that’s the case, your relationship probably lacked emotional safety, or your partner exhibited emotionally unsafe behaviors.

What’s emotional safety, you ask?

Besides the fact that it’s a vital component of any healthy, successful, and long-lasting relationship, I’m gonna explain right away:

• what it means
• how you can spot an emotionally safe person
• how you can evaluate whether you…

Our relationship beliefs matter because what you believe about a relationship is also what you bring into it.

Between Hollywood movies, crappy tv-shows, and dozens of articles by people who have no idea what they’re talking about, many of us have unfortunately developed some unhealthy beliefs about love and dating, that hamper the growth and success of our relationships.

What follows are the four most common, yet toxic beliefs most people have about relationships, and how they can harm the happiness of the two people involved in one.

1. Relationships Should Follow a Specific Pattern

Here’s a universal truth about relationships: they take place within a social…

One of the main questions I often get from people around me when it comes to relationships is,

“How do I know my partner is the one?”

You know that feeling when you meet someone gorgeous, go on a couple of days and you immediately start thinking, “Ok, I think I’ve found my forever person”?

That’s enthusiasm speaking — you can never know if a person matches you completely unless you’ve spent significant time with them, and gotten to know them on a deeper level.

You see, a lot of people think that “the one” is a person who makes…

The other day, I was having a conversation with a friend about a book she had read that was one of Bill Gates’s favorites.

I think we all have read at some point articles that shared Bill Gates’s, Ellon Musk’s, or Barack Obama’s favorite books and decided to grab one of them.

And, I don’t know why, but that got me thinking, what about other widely popular people that aren’t politicians, or multi-billionaire entrepreneurs? For example, what does Tom Hanks, one of the greatest actors of all time, read?

So, I decided to do a little bit of research and…

The word “narcissist” is used a lot in today’s culture, usually to describe someone who’s self-absorbed, vain, or full of themselves.

We see someone posting dozens of selfies and we think, “God, what a narcissist!”.

However, in psychological terms, real narcissism goes far beyond vanity and excessive self-love and usually comes with:

• manipulation
• selfishness
• a distorted perception of reality
• lack of empathy

The above are all narcissistic traits you’ve likely heard before. The truth is, we all have an idea of what a narcissist’s personality looks like. The real question is, how can you identify one?

Because life with a…

Not that long ago, I stumbled upon the concept of “going on a blind date with a book”. At first, it made no sense, but I quickly learned that it’s exactly what the title suggests: you literally go on a blind date… with a book.

And, unlike a blind date between two humans, appearances aren’t a factor that influences whether you’ll enjoy your “date”.

I considered it once, twice, three times, (after all, I don’t try new things that easily) and in the end decided to give it a chance. I gotta say that I wasn’t disappointed at all.

Here’s…

Although human attraction still remains a mystery to a certain degree, we all know by now that love is a matter of choice. You choose who you date, who you love, and who you share your life with.

“You can’t choose who you love” is a bad, yet extremely convenient excuse for people who get stuck in similar toxic dating patterns, always end up with dysfunctional and unfulfilling relationships, and are unwilling to identify their problems, work on themselves and improve their romantic choices.

If those things sound familiar, you might be wondering whether you are doomed to an eternally…

Between Netflix, Hollywood movies, and fiction books, sometimes it can be difficult to tell the difference between what’s real about relationships and what’s not.

And although there are no rights or wrongs when it comes to forming and navigating a relationship, there are some undeniable truths about relationships that most people prefer to close their eyes to.

Maybe, by denying them, things feel easier, less complicated, or more exciting. However, the longer you deny the following truths, the trickier it will become to form a healthy relationship and make sure it stands the test of time.

What follows is a…