The importance of relationships and 7 Habits to improve them Part 1
In today’s article, I talk about how important it is to spend time with friends, family and those you love. I’ll also introduce you to 7 habits you can use to improve your relationships with these people. It’s completely normal to not have the perfect relationship or to not always get along perfectly with your parents, and that’s the case for everyone – you’re not alone. The first step is always to accept it and only then can you gradually improve.
I myself took a week off to make the most of the time and met up with friends, my family or my beloved girlfriend as often as I could and spent quality time with them. I realized how important it is to take time for the people you love and how much good it does you. And you also end up doing those you love a favor by spending more time with them. It’s a win-win situation that only offers advantages.
However, it’s also normal that if a relationship, with whomever, is not so good right now, you have to work to get it back to the way it was at its best. That’s why today I’d like to introduce you to 7 habits from the book „7 Day Love Prescription“ that you can use to improve your relationships in the long term. Even when things are going well, you can apply these habits, because as we productivity lovers know, things always get better.
When I use the word „relationship“ in my post today, I mean any kind of relationship, whether it’s with friends or family or even love relationships. The tips I give are universally applicable to any type of relationship.
Creating and offering connections- The book I just mentioned was written by 2 psychologists who found in an experiment that when couples offer each other the opportunity to create a connection, they stay together longer. By connection they mean things like hugs, small touches but also bigger things like gifts. Simply things that strengthen the connection between the two of you. It only has to be small things, because even small things help to build or strengthen something bigger in the long term.
It’s almost just as important to respond to the other person’s attempts and to recognize them in the first place. Especially when you’re just getting to know each other, it’s difficult to recognize whether someone is seriously trying to get closer. But this is a question of your intuition and this is trained through experience, just like many other things. I can’t really help you with the question of how to recognize something like that. But I can certainly help you with the question of how to respond to the other person’s attempts.
Accept it, be happy about the fact that the other person is trying to get closer to you. Be aware of this fact and then treat the other person as you would be treated, or at best you know the other person so well that you know how he or she wants to be treated.
Quizzing- While we’re on the subject of knowing your partner, let’s move on to the next habit. Asking each other questions and talking about the things that are important in each other’s lives is part of any healthy relationship. But asking questions about the little details that everyone has should also be part of your relationship from now on at the latest.
As we have already seen with the Habit, even the little things can have a big impact over a longer period of time. Find out more about each other every day. Take this as a challenge that can help your relationship grow.
You now know 2 habits that can improve and strengthen your relationship, but now I want to tell you about the things that can destroy your relationship. It is also important to know the things that cause unhappiness in order to avoid them. Just like we do in trying to be productive, we avoid the bad to focus on the good.
The first factor is criticism. Criticism is of course part of every relationship, you have to tell your partner if you are not satisfied with something or if something bothers you, but you have to do it in a healthy and respectful way. Constant criticism and finding fault with your partner is simply bad for any kind of relationship.
The second factor is not having respect for the other person. Respecting the other person is part of any healthy relationship. You can show this with little things like listening attentively. What you should avoid in any case is disrespecting your partner or the other person and expressing this, for example, through *perfect criticism*.
The third factor is to blame the other person for everything that goes badly. This is something you should always avoid, not just in relationships. If something goes wrong, you should first of all blame yourself and see what you yourself contributed to things going the way they did. It’s definitely not helpful to blame someone else for everything, especially not the people you love. And even if someone else is to blame, you shouldn’t start a huge argument about something as trivial as taking the garbage outside.
In situations like this, just ask yourself what your 80 year old self would say to you, is it worth starting an argument that could end up leaving you alone in the near future over something trivial?
The fourth factor is to hide behind an emotional or physical wall. In a relationship that should be about closeness and connection, it’s a killer to distance yourself from the other person. Even if things are going badly, running away from heated situations is not a good way out. In such situations, you should approach your partner first and foremost and not let the connection be damaged under any circumstances.
I just realized how long this post has been going on and that’s why I decided to make 2 parts out of it and share the other one tomorrow. Instead, go improve a relationship and see how you can make it even better tomorrow.
I hope I was able to help you today and wish you a pleasant Sunday.
