Relationships
Welcome to our "Relationships" page where you'll be able to read my views on this most interesting and complex topic. As usual, feel free to provide feedback. Tell me if you agree with me or think I'm nuts. Just keep in mind that, unless you tell me to keep it confidential, you may just see your comments plastered here for all to see. Interaction and sharing is encouraged at this site. It's all done to help us grow and we want to have fun with it. So, with that said, here are my views on ...
Relationships in general:
Let's get one thing out on the table right away. Relationships, regardless of the kind, usually require a lot of work to make them successful. There are many types of relationships and we tend to categorize them, often unconsciously, in many different ways. For example, we have social relationships, business relationships, family relationships, romantic relationships, etc.
Each of these high-level categories are then broken down further (again, mostly unconsciously) into sub-categories. For example, work-environment relationships are usually broken down further into boss relationships, peer relationships, subordinate relationships, etc. Social relationships are sub-divided into friends, neighbors, community, relatives and so on. In any case, you get the picture. The point is, we make relationships far more complex than we need to and that is why they require so much "work" to maintain. If we were comfortable enough with "who we are", there would be no need to make things so complex. We could simply be "ourselves" and let our relationships evolve as they will. But, alas, we are not that comfortable with ourselves.
You see, most of us are not even very familiar with ourselves. That would require us to really look within and see what's there. But that's a very scary thought for most of us. So, in order to avoid looking within, we keep our focus on the "outside" world and we wear different "masks" at different times to interact with others. That's why the mind creates relationship categories - so that it knows which "mask" to give us at any particular time. We'll take a humorous look at each of our relationships in the sections that follow. Don't be offended by anything that's written, it's all meant to help us to see what's really happening in our relationships so that we can better understand why they require so much work, and why they sometimes go so wrong. It can be a fun way to learn and to grow. We'll be adding new sections on a regular basis, so check back often to see the latest. Who knows, we may just describe one of your relationships to a 'T' and you may pick up a few tips on how best to deal with your current situation.
