Healthy Relationships

2015-11-19 23:43:32 Alan Godfrey

Relationships are hugely important parts of our lives -- but what makes a healthy relationship, anyway? In this entry we will break down some of the core fundamentals to having a loving, healthy relationship. For our purposes, we’ll define healthy as both people, in either romantic or platonic relationships, are happy, not doing destructive behaviors, and are growing closer together through genuine love. Notice I didn’t say “communication skills” or even something based off of physical attractions and actions. These essentials can be applied in relationship with your partner, family member, or friend. While communication skills and attraction do play important roles, we are going to focus on the deeper essentials to a healthy bond between you and another: trust, commitment, humility, and ultimately living like Christ.

The first two, trust and commitment, may seem obvious at first, but they are essential in how we feel safe in a relationship to be our true selves. Without trust both you and the other half of the relationship will not open up about true thoughts and feelings, bottling them up until they either shut down or explode in various unhealthy behaviors like bursts of anger, drinking, or even going outside the relationship. If you want a healthy relationship you need to install trust: validating instead of dismissing thoughts, ideas and feelings; being able to change your mind when needed; and much more that we will cover in a later article. A solid foundation of trust paves the way for commitment.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I want to live like Christ in my relationships but it is difficult! What that would even look like?” I see Christ-like living in relationships through humility and commitment, a constant life of prayer, forgiveness, continually seeking spiritual guidance, and sacrifice. This is where you ask yourself before each minor or major decision “Is this good for the relationship, or just for me?” When you truly want what is good for the relationship and let the living a self-centered (although well-meaning) life fall by the wayside, you can find the peace and love meant for a healthy relationship.

To end this I will say there are so many other topics, exceptions, and “what ifs” that we did not get to yet, but keep in mind to try your best and never be afraid to ask for help. If you find yourself struggling to maintain healthy relationships in your life, we would love to partner with you. Call us any time at (925) 820-1467.

Couples, Women, Men