Relationships – Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Let’s talk about relationships in a general context – be it with friends, parents, spouse or siblings. All of us experience bitterness in relationships at some point of time in our lives. Do we ever ponder over the cause of such bitterness creeping into our relationship and making it void.

When I thought about it, I realized that we are so obsessed with ourselves – our ambitions, our feelings, our thoughts that we barely give room to other’s feelings, which creates hollowness in the relationship.

In the fast paced life of today, we hardly get time to mingle with our near and dear ones; but it is not about the number of hours you give them, but the quality time you spend with them. This is your time and you must shower your love, care, affection and respect on them. These are the emotions that make your bond stronger with time. Loving someone and showing it by doing something for them is good, but it is also important to express love by way of words and gestures. It gives vent to your emotions and lets the other person know of your hidden feelings, letting that bitterness disappear within fraction of a second. 

Another important factor, in a relationship is hurt management. It is normal to get hurt very easily, but what matters is your knowing how to manage it. Say for instance, someone tells you, ‘’you are a monkey’’, and you get hurt, thinking all the while how can anyone call you a monkey. This gets into your mind and you feel hurt and offended. This is because you are a slave to your mind. On the contrary, you must have full control over your mind, to avoid being a victim to such problems. This is where meditation comes in which helps you regain control over your mind and make you stronger to handle these situations tactfully. Have you ever seen a wind blowing in your face and then moving away? In the same way, we should not let these issues enter our mind and heart. The moment these hurting issues hit us, without finding a place in our mind and heart they should go away. Once, we bring it into practice in our day-to-day affairs, all other lower emotions springing from it such as anger, frustration, irritation, depression will vanish into thin air. The absence of these lower emotions will help in nurturing and nourishing our relationships and making them fulfilling and satisfying.

One last point I will like to outline is that you must always patiently listen to what other have to say on any subject or topic, even if you are not in harmony with it. This will help in fostering a strong bonding and can also give vital inputs on the topic that may prove to be of great help to you.

Always remember, that your efforts must be directed towards making your relationship ‘’BETTER’’, not ‘’BITTER’’…..