Practical Tips
Most of us need relationships with others to feel happy - be it family, friends, colleagues, or partners. However, poor relationships can make us feel stressed, anxious, or depressed.
Below are some simple steps to help you get a relationship back on track:
1. The first thing is to understand, and be honest about, what the problem is about. This will give you a realistic perspective on what's going on and how to solve ongoing issues
2. Calmly communicate about what you want in your relationship. If you portray calmness with your voice and body language while you communicate, it will be far more effective.
3. Try not to criticise. And if you must criticise, try to make it constructive or frame it in a way that doesn't offend the other person.
4. Try to stay positive. If things start to go badly with a relationship in our life, it's easy to feel things are sliding downwards into a negative spiral. Instead, try to focus on what the person is doing well at, rather than the negative stuff, and let the other person know that you appreciate their efforts.
5. Try looking at things from each other's point of view. If you're not sure what they're thinking, ask them.
6. Talk to each other as equals. If you come across as patronising, it will immediately make the other person defensive and any attempt at resolving the issue will likely be futile.
7. If you live with somebody or spend a lot of time with them, it's important to do things separately from time to time. Set aside a healthy amount of time apart pursuing your own interests and social lives. If you're happier as individuals, you'll be happier in your relationship.
8. There is no 'should' when it comes to relationships. It's a big mistake to compare your relationship with other peoples' relationships. Every single relationship is different. You should treat them as such.
‘ The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.’