5 "Green Flags" You Might Have in Your Relationship

We’ve heard about red flags at the start of a new relationship, but what about the green ones?

The red flags (such as possessive behavior, jealous tendencies, and narcissism) are warning signs that everyone needs to watch out for. Gaslighting is another form of manipulation where one person consistently denies the reality of the other.

However, the green flags are the burst of motivation we need to keep going, especially if we struggle with trust issues or anything that hinders us from a happy and fulfilling relationship.

Even though connecting with another person is a truly blissful experience, in the beginning, it can be hard to tell if the relationship is ultimately a positive one or not. “Is my relationship positive?” could be a question that comes creeping up out of the blue.

It’s something everyone asks themselves at some point.

Relationship green flags can help you determine if your relationship is a positive one.

Below are five good signs in a relationship to let you know if you’ve got the green light to go!

5 Relationship Green Flags

1. You Can Be Yourself

One of the best green flags in a relationship is being able to be yourself. It is actually a rare thing to find somebody that you can truly be yourself with.

If the person you are with is someone you connect with and feel you can be yourself without putting on airs or worrying about appearances, it is a sure sign of a green flag.

This can also indicate a soulmate connection.

2. You Connect With Each Other On a Deep Level

Looks and appearance are one of nature’s clever ways to bring two people together. However, beyond the initial attraction, they rarely have staying power.

You know it’s a green light in your relationship when it goes far deeper than looks. This also applies to other more shallow life elements, such as status, wealth, and career. When you can connect to someone on an emotional level or at a soul level, this is a perfect sign for your relationship.

3. There is Lots of Smiling & Laughing

This is an obvious green flag. Loving being in each other’s company is where there is plenty of laughing, and smiling is a surefire sign that this is a relationship with plenty of lasting potential.

This doesn’t include forced laughter or putting on a display of joy simply to please the other person.

It is genuine, true, and wholesome. This person brings you the same sense of joy and comfort you experienced when you were younger and you were around friends or family that brought you happy feelings. This person brings a positive mood out of you so that others actually notice.

This is a great green flag.

Read this article next: How to Bring Energy Back Into Your Long-Term Relationship

4. You Share Similar Values & Goals

This doesn’t mean you both want the same career or have the same vision of the future. It means you have a similar set of values and morals in the way you see the world. It means you have a similar vision of what the world should be and what you want to contribute to it in your future.

A relationship is ultimately a team, and if you and your significant other have a similar moral code and a vision of the future, it is a green flag that you are both in it for the long term.

5. You Can Be Vulnerable

Showing our vulnerabilities and weaknesses is a rare thing. Many of us keep them close to our hearts because to reveal them would be to drop an extremely powerful defense mechanism.

If you can share your vulnerabilities with your other half, then this is a huge green flag. It means that you trust them enough to show them the side of yourself that you often keep hidden. It means that you connect at such a level that you can put your weaknesses on display without fear of being judged or condemned.

Such a connection can only grow and is a huge green flag for a long-term relationship.

Do You Have Relationship Green Flags?

There are a number of relationship green flags, but the ones listed above are some of the main flags to watch out for.

A new relationship can be scary, especially if you have been wounded before. As they say, once bitten, twice shy. Go with how you feel and trust your instincts. If it feels right to be with this person and you feel you don’t have to be someone you’re not around them, then this is the best green flag you could ask for.

If you are in a long-term relationship and these relationship green flags are present in it, then you are onto a winner.

If they are missing, then it may be time for some careful contemplation, asking yourself how truly happy you feel in your current relationship.

Assessing our relationships in this way is a good way to step outside of it to make sense of this crazy business called love. Emotions are powerful things, and getting caught up in them can blind us at times.

Are these relationship green flags in your relationship?

Related article: The Significant Mental Benefits of Strong Relationships