Relationship Development (page 1)

Introduction:

Man is a social animal. No one can lead a happy life without social relations. All types of relationships include sweet and sore. It is the way we perceive things which makes relations fruitful or harmful. There are certain things to be considered to make a fruitful relationship with others.

Self awareness:

Know your values-both positive and negative and accept them as it is. Knowing yourself is the first step towards a successful relationship. If you have poor self awareness, you are less likely to understand others. Understanding others is the key to successful interpersonal relationships and when you fail to do so, your relationship also fails.

If you have a better understanding of yourself, you will be able to accept your mistakes and correct them. Also, if you know your limitations, you will be able to accept the mistakes of others. Accepting self and others is an important thing in relationships.

Value clarification of others:

Understanding others is also an important factor in relationship. Each individual is different and the behaviour and reactions of an individual is different from time to time. Keeping this in mind, will help us to cope with undesired behaviour from others. 

There are certain aspects of others that we need to clarify. They are:

Belief: Have a better understanding of the pattern of belief others have. Some of the belief patterns are-rational belief, faith and irrational belief. Rational belief is believing something only in presence of an evidence. Faith is believing even when there is no evidence and irrational belief is believing something even when there is an evidence suggesting that it does not exist.

Misunderstanding is common in relationships. The survival of a relationship during misunderstanding is largely depended on the belief patterns of individuals.

Attitudes: Each individual have unique attitudes towards things related to them. A person will have a positive attitude towards something while having negative attitudes towards other things. It is important to clarify the attitudes of your partner (in a relationship)towards things related to your relationship. When there exist a difference in attitude towards certain important things in life, between the partner, it is necessary to understand and accept the attitudes of him/her and adjust with it. This adjustment does not mean that you have to change your attitude, but accept the attitude of your partner.

Values: Every individual have an internal value system developed early in childhood. This value system changes rapidly as a person matures and have experiences of life. It is depended on the value system of family, culture, religion and many other factors. Understanding a person’s value system is inevitable in determining the extend of a relationship. We all expect our partner to be loyal, honest and having good values and morals.

Emotions: Emotional response of an individual is also unique and is depended on the external factors also. Certain emotional response may be unacceptable for us but understanding the emotional response of an individual help us to understand the reasons behind such behaviour and adjust accordingly.


By: Shimil Varghese