8 TED Talks that will help you save your relationships

Relationships are never easy. By definition they entail connections between people, and people, as we all know, are eternally complicated creatures.

Relationships also come in all sizes and colors — there are romantic relationships, work relationships, and friendships, just to name a few. 

Regardless of what kind of relationship you want to save, each is fundamentally similar to the next in a number of ways.

In all healthy relationships, we are able to listen well, empathize, connect, resolve conflict, and respect others.

The following TED talks are a great refresher course in doing just that. 

Esther Peril's "Rethinking infidelity ... a talk for anyone who has ever loved."

Perel, a licensed marriage and family therapist, traveled the world for 10 years examining hundreds of couples affected by cheating to find out why people cheat, even when they're happy, and what "infidelity" actually means?

She questions whether infidelity needs to be the ultimate betrayal it's perceived to be.

"When a couple comes to me in the aftermath of an affair that has been revealed, I will often tell them this: Today in the West, most of us are going to have two or three relationships or marriages, and some of us are going to do it with the same person," Perel says. "Your first marriage is over. Would you like to create a second one together?"

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Yann Dall'Aglio's "Love — you're doing it wrong."

Dall'Aglio, a French philosopher and author of "A Rolex at 50: Do you have the right to miss your life?" and "I love you: Is love a has been?," says love is the desire of being desired. But in a world that often favors the self over others, how can people find the tenderness and connection they crave?

It may be easier than you think: "For a couple who is no longer sustained, supportedby the constraints of tradition, I believe that self-mockeryis one of the best means for the relationship to endure," he says.

In this surprisingly convincing talk, Dall'Aglio explains how acknowledging our uselessness could be the key to sustaining healthy relationships.

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Brené Brown's "The power of vulnerability."

Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, studies how humans empathize, belong, and love, and her approach to embracing vulnerability and loving whole-heartedly could fundamentally change the way you live, love, work, and parent.

"When we work from a place, I believe, that says, 'I'm enough,' then we stop screaming and start listening,we're kinder and gentler to the people around us,and we're kinder and gentler to ourselves," she says.

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