You go shopping for rings and suddenly your future flashes before your eyes; your palms sweat and you ask yourself, "Am I doing the right thing? '

But more often than not, the answer is right at your feet; it's the little things that will tell you whether she is the love of your life.

Here are 5 failsafe ways to help you decide if she's for you.

"The idea of losing her should be more frightening to you than losing your freedom, " says Dr Aline Zoldbrod, a psychologist and sex therapist.

Translated, this means you're able to say, "I am ready to get married", which half the guys who walk down the aisles cannot.

Read it again. It's not going to change.

Make sure she's in love with your "before" photo and not the "after" pic you may never achieve.

"Men want to be appreciated for who they actually are, not who women want them to be, " according to Dr Carol Kauffman, a relationship therapist and psychology instructor at Harvard Medical School in the US. "You shouldn't contort yourself to fit her expectations. "

You shouldn't cringe, even slightly, at the thought of bringing her to a week-long family reunion or seating her between your boss and an impress-or-die client.

You argue a lot and get nowhere? "Take her to bed if you want, but don't commit and don't bother arguing with her, " advises Dr Tina Tessina, a psychotherapist and author of How to Be a Couple and Still Be Free.