You could play some mentally stimulating games that can help your friends too! From that, you will be able to gauge their levels of intimacy and how well they know one another. And of course, their attitudes about marriage.

Your colleagues in the office
Keep a vigilant eye over your colleagues in the office. You will be amazed at the revelations that may come by, simply by having a careful and sharp sense of observation. At all times, you must not lose sight of your main objective in undertaking this exercise. And that is not to pry into their personal lives, but rather to use their experiences as a learning board.

By being an eyewitness to live and kicking romances (which every office environment has one good example of) and failed relationships, you can get a gut feel for the magic and the work that remains to be done or undone in a relationship, as the case may be.

The people with whom you stay

Your parents
Home is where not just charity, but everything else begins. Home is the starting point for the shaping up of your attitudes and many, many of the complex patterns of thinking that you may have evolved to justify some of your irrational ideas, prejudices or actions.

Try to observe as an outsider. Try to see the kind of skills they have and the manner in which they have coped with life's challenges.

Every now and then, put yourself in their shoes and see if you could have done a better job. You will be amazed how often you will find yourself saying, ‘Gosh! With so little resources, they got so far!’ And in self criticism you may reproach yourself saying that if they have gone a mile, you wouldn't be able to travel even a quarter of that distance, even though times have changed. And life should be a lot more easier.

Amazing isn't it? Getting basics like relationships working right first time round seems to appear like one of life's fundamental problems.