I have been observing the essence of family and friendships, especially in these holiday times. There is a beauty in cherishing the value that our relationships bring to us.
Although it appears that we don’t choose our family, I assert that we do internally. We don’t choose our parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, or in-laws. All those relationships actually happen. Yet, we may choose them as valuable members of our world by allowing our hearts to open and relate to them, get curious about their thoughts, emotions, and all that happens in their lives. We can also share who we are, our thoughts, beliefs, and creativity openly with them. There may also be members of our family that we relate to from an obligatory place, we attend to our role as a daughter, son, cousin, etc. but have some judgment toward them or feel judged by them and therefore close up when we are around them.
On the other hand, we choose people to be in our life as friends. We choose them based on some similarities. We may have met them through work, hobbies, or socializing among other friends. Friends are chosen family members who can be included in our world or can be excluded if the relationship does not work for us anymore.
We may have friends or family members with whom we may feel close at one time in our lives and not feel close at another when we don’t have anything in common due to a phase of life change. For example, as we move from high school to college, from singlehood to marriage, and then to have children, etc.
Our intimate relationship or our mate is also a chosen relationship, which we may choose to keep feeling intimacy with, or feel separated emotionally and just keep the structure of marriage due to a variety of reasons.
The structure of any of these relationships is different from the relatedness itself and how we hold someone close to our heart for a period of time in our life. Interestingly, the amount of people who are structurally around us becomes irrelevant to our happiness and fulfillment. It is the quality of the closeness and fondness that makes us feel blessed with the relationships that we have.
Sharing ourselves fully, sharing our love and affection, accepting others as who they are, having empathy, compassion, and being real creates blissful relationships.
To become more aware and learn skills in how to create quality, intimate, heartwarming, and long-lasting relationships in your life, check out my book “Life Reset – The Awareness Integration Path to Creating the Life you Want”.
The quality of our life is measured by the quality of our relationships. So, create blissful relationships with yourself and others.
Love
Foojan
