Expanded Life Relationships
Our lives are a complex mixture of life relationships. Relationships come in many forms throughout our lives. We most often think of life relationships as the interactions we have with our family, our friends, our work, and other people within our community with whom we correspond, conduct business or engage with in other activities, etc.
However, our relationship realm expands way beyond the people we interact with and communicate with on a regular basis. Our relationships include every person, place, or thing with whom our paths cross. This includes everything and everyone. The dictionary states within the definition of relation as: “connection or manner or being connected or related, as in thought, meaning, etc.” Within the definition of relationship, the dictionary states, “the quality or state of being related; connection.”
So life relationships are connections with others. Everyday our lives are a constant series of engagements and connections with other persons and things. Some examples of connections with people that may not be thought of as relationships are phone conversations regarding business, personal, or social inquiries, eye contact with a fellow bus commuter, other drivers and/or pedestrians we encounter while driving our cars, email interactions, etc. Life relationships with other than people are those we have with our pets, the pets we see at the homes of our family and friends, the wildlife we encounter within our yard and community, our uses and experiences with all plant life, water, and other natural resources.
According to the dictionary, relationships include even our connections through our thoughts. We generally think of our thoughts as being private and having no consequence unless they are followed by some deed or action. Life experiences, however, show us that our thoughts do have affects on our relationships of all kinds. Our thoughts are the lead-in to what we do and how we act and/or interact. Actions or deeds manifest only after thoughts have first appeared within our minds.
So thoughts are not just an unimportant chattering that continually goes on in our heads. Thoughts are worthy of important consideration and examination that direct our lives in every single aspect. We have thoughts, though often very brief, about nearly everything we encounter throughout our daily lives; therefore, we have relationships with all of these people, places and things.
Consider the possibilities of more positive and healthier interactions and connections with all of these relationships through compassion and solution thinking instead of criticism, judgments, and indifference.