A few years ago I was on a long drive and listened to a talk show. The show host was discussing with his many callers the most important components of a happy relationship. He particularly asked them not to mention that nebulous word "love". At the end of the show they narrowed the components down to six. They also arranged them in the following order:-

TRUST

RESPECT

COMPANIONSHIP

ACCEPTANCE

APPROVAL

APPRECIATION

I was particularly interested in this, as I felt I had all of those mutually shared components in our relationship at that time. However, subsequently I discovered that my partner's behaviour had taken away the first. Without that I had none of the others. So, indeed, the first has to be the most important. It was an interesting radio discussion. For me the outcome subsequently was a disaster.

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