[quote=walterwhite]I gotta agree in general with Brian on principle; you always have to appear able and ready to walk away from anything to appear desireable. It’s just humanity.[/quote]

I agree with you when you are talking about an arms length negotiation. When dealing with relationships that can be expressed in dollars and cents (such as in business) you always have to do your best to keep the upper hand. Achieving long lasting personal relationships, in my opinion, takes a more sophisticated approach. You need to decide whether it’s better to feel like you have the upper hand or whether it’s better in the long run to admit that you might not be perfect. My parents were married for 59 years, my husband’s parents were married for 65. I don’t think any of them ever sat around thinking about how they could act to “appear” more desirable – the trick was to actually *be* desirable, which is a lot harder. . . .