6 Keys to Happy & Healthy Relationships
When thinking about 6 keys to happy & healthy relationships, there are many things that cross my mind. Every relationship, no matter how healthy, has both its joys and its challenges. This is simply part of having other people in our lives. We all have strengths and weaknesses and we are all imperfect. A vital factor to having happy relationships that are genuinely good for us, is to be self-aware and self-responsible.
Filling our lives with relationships (friendships, romantic, work-related, etc.) that are established on healthy foundations and bring us joy on a regular basis can have a tremendous impact on our self-esteem, the peace we experience in our own everyday living, and even on our personal and professional accomplishments. So, how do we actually attract and cultivate such desirable relationships?
Top 6 Keys to Happy, Healthy Relationships
1) Ask questions: Lots and lots of questions!
Seek first to understand your partner/friend. Many times we want others to understand our hurt feelings first, when if we had only sought to really understand what the other person was saying, we wouldn’t have gotten our feelings hurt in the first place.
2) Communicate openly on what your thought process is
No one can mind read, yet we tend to think that others can read our minds or we assume we can mind read someone else’s mind. We need to effectively let others know our thought processes in order to communicate.
3) Be authentic by sharing how things make you feel
This means taking a risk and being vunerable but when you own your own feelings it frees others to own their own feelings as well.
4) Establish your own healthy boundaries and respect and honor the boundaries of others
Learning to say no can be a very hard boundary to implement. Make it a “No, thank you” and it might help you to feel a bit better saying it but no matter how you say it, know that it can be uncomfortable but necessary.
5) Embrace learning, growth and change
Humans tend to loathe change. The truth is that everything changes. Well isn’t that a pretty oxymoron? We can either deny change or we can learn how to deal with it in the most productive ways that we can.
6) Be forgiving of yourself and others
Yes, I know, easier said than done. This is another tool that is so, so necessary for us to learn for ourselves and to learn how to do with others.
These 6 keys to happy, healthy relationships may seem simple in principle, but it takes effort to learn specific tools to use in each area in order to be able to put each item into practice. I can speak from personal experience that learning and practicing these tools it is so worth the effort!
If you would like to learn more specific tools to have healthy & happy relationships, call my San Diego office at 619-687-9013 to set up an appointment today!