JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you're married, are you married to the right person?
A woman who calls herself America's Marriage Doctor says she's got the seven keys to help you make the right choice and ensure a lasting marriage.
Considering marriage is one of the biggest emotional and financial investments you can make, you want to make sure you pick the right spouse.
And that's where Jacqueline Del Rosario comes in.
She's been a marriage coach for 15 years and runs BestMarriageKeys.com.
Her seven keys to ensuring a happily ever after starts with (1) making sure you're like-minded.
"You're not going to agree on everything with everyone, not even God," Rosario said. "If you understand you're similar to the person, that's taking out a lot of the frustration and conflict that's going to emerge."
Some other marriage keys are (2) that your temperament balances one another, (3) that you're both committed to doing the work and (4) that you speak your partner's "love language."
"I think most people make a mistake. We always want to give to someone what we like. But that's really not important, is it?" Rosario said. "A part of meeting someone's expectations in a relationship and making them feel good in the relationship is speaking their love language. How do they want you to communicate love to them?"
Also on the list is to (5) work together to resolve problems and (6) be attracted to your partner.
"Attraction is essential because it means you have chemistry, and that's the beginning point," Rosario said. "That's what gets you into the relationship. That's what hopefully will get you to put on the lens that's going to help you examine, 'Are they suitable for me in all of the other areas that are important?' And it's also the thing that keeps the spice in the relationship as all of the years go on."
The seventh marriage key, Rosario says, is to (7) genuinely like who your partner is as a person.
If you can hit upon all these keys, Rosario says your chances for a successful marriage will increase.
She should know. She's been married to her husband for 22 years.