Healthy partnerships are foundational to our success. We need mutual witnessing, perspective sharing, and support to grow. It is important that we choose healthy relationships because they have so much impact on who we become.
Let’s look at three signs of healthy relationships. You might consider them in the context of choosing a therapist, workplace, friend groups and in navigating family boundaries.
Mutual care about shared and individual success.
Security, and as a result, possibility, skyrocket when partnership is in service of clearly defined success from which all members benefit. It helps to know why we are in a relationship and how our contribution benefits others and ourselves.
Too often, a task is held in mind by one, and because of a power dynamic or compatible unconscious dynamics, the others in the relationship are robbed of a buy-in they really need to feel safe and contribute the energy they have to offer.
For example, in the therapeutic relationship, we must be clear about the task at hand- which centers on the client’s individual success. At the same time, the therapist needs a certain amount of money, time boundaries, and structure to contribute to the relationship with full safety and energy. In a workplace, you may need to find clarity about how the investments you are making as an employee are valued by your team and how the work relationship contributes to your personal goals.
They acknowledge impact beyond the task at hand.
We must recognize the mental, emotional and other exchanges we have with the people whom we share tasks. The character and internal world of everyone involved matters even when it is not the central focus. I often hear people talk about therapy as if it is a standard procedure. Granted, there are theories and guidelines we know to increase psychological health, and change is proven to be much more dependent upon the relationship itself than the knowledge applied.
The relationships we choose to join and how we choose to join them are deeply impactful. Through them, we gather information that informs what we feel empowered to explore next. How do your interactions with family members inform the choices you make in your personal life? Notice how you feel before and after sharing time with the people in your life.
They acknowledge endings.
When we share values and vision with others, we are much more likely to achieve them. Achievement is a kind of ending. Because connection is so precious and vital to our experience, we can sometimes avoid achievement in an effort to avoid the feeling of the end. Successful relationships can honor achievement, allowing for new vision and shared understanding to be born.
Notice your associations to ending and consider what can be honored. How might you show gratitude and celebrate the support and nourishment you received from that relationship so it can hold a special place in your story?
Relationships are the most powerful agent for transformation. This is why it is so essential that we make effort to be conscious about the partnerships we are forming. If you would like to explore more about the transformational power of relationship through therapy, look through our therapist’s bio’s here .
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