When it comes to love, do you think of yourself and your significant other as being made for each other, or would you rather think of yourselves as two people on the same journey?

It turns out that the way we frame love can affect how we evaluate our relationships.

Recent research from the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology reveals it’s wiser to think of love as a journey with a companion, going through things as a partnership of two individuals, as we feel more satisfied in our relationships compared to those of us who think of love as a perfect unity of two halves, where we can feel less satisfied when we encounter and remember conflict.

More inspiration:

Read The most important message you will read about love (and Valentine's) by Madeleine Mason on LifeLabs

Watch Karen Ruimy on Finding love on LifeLabs

Photograph: iStock