A book by love coach Kloudiia, on the things one needs to do in order to sustain a relationship. I guess for most of us, we did not grow up with a concept of how to handle a love relationship. It was much easier in our grandparents' time, or even our parents' time, when they were match-made and they lived their lives just like that.

For us, being the more educated and modernised generation, we expect more out of life. No longer is love and relationships that important. We do not be with someone so easily just like that. We want someone who is the right fit, someone special we can spend our lives with. Hence we get more and more picky and self-centred, expecting the other party to always cater to us, and when things do not go well, we blamed on others and not ourselves.

However, I guess deep down, everyone wants a companion. No matter what, I believe in general, no one wants to spend the rest of their lives being lonely if they have a choice. When we are young, we have our jobs and friends to have fun with. But when our friends all start getting married, and we reach retirement age, what is going to happen if we do not have a companion? Then we may need to live the remaining twenty or thirty years in loneliness.

Thus I believe most of us are out looking for someone. But after the initial period of attraction, what then? Do we live the way we have always lived when we are still single? Of course not. Once we make the decision to be with someone, we have to ensure we are half of a couple, and not on our own anymore. Which means we have to make compromises, accommodate and tolerate each other's quirks and shortcomings.

This is where some people have problems with. Some I know never like to tolerate, they think as long as the person has shortcomings, it means the person is not perfect for them. Hence they nip a budding relationship in the bud before it blossoms, when in fact, the person may be just the right one. But who in this world is perfect? Are we ourselves perfect too? Being in a relationship is not so easy as just entering one and that's it. It needs work to maintain it. It needs adjustments to each other's characters, flaws and lifestyles. It is no longer self-focused. It needs two hands to clap.

And that is where Kloudiia's book The 69 Love Notes comes in. In it, she writes about how to have a loving and lasting relationship, using sixty-nine secrets to spice up your love life. Relationships are never easy, but with her tips, coupled with the correct way of communication and mindset, anyone can have a loving and lasting relationship full of happiness and bliss.

Her book has reaffirmed a lot of what I know and have gone through. And I am sure going to continue practising what she says in order to make my relationship last!