Make Sure You Pay Attention to Your Relationships

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The sense of loving connection between two people is the heart of every relationship. It is important to take the time to feel and recognize the connection, and to develop the sense of what makes each one precious and unique in its own way.

Many of you have relationships where you do not see or speak to the other person for long periods of time, sometimes years. Still, it is common to feel that when you do connect with those loved ones, it is just like the last time you saw each other. It is as though no time has passed. What lies between you is there, fresh and strong, whenever you return to it. So it is with connections, with deep relating. Time has no effect on them, and the bond remains.

These connections are the riches of your life. Appreciate them, savor them, and when you can, keep them current. As precious as your once-every-so-often relationships are, it is those that you interact with in the present that help you work out the problems of everyday living. It is with those that you share decisions, get advice, complain, rejoice, and grow.

Strangely, there is a tendency to stop seeing and appreciating that which becomes familiar. With time, you might even stop feeling and valuing the connection within your relationships. To keep those connections in the present, you have to create shared experiences and take time to just be and to relate to one another. There are many ways to do this. To bring a relationship into your current experience, you must bring it into your present life.

That sense of loving connection arises because in every close relationship, there are not two, but rather three entities; each of the individuals and the relationship itself. By paying close attention, you can be aware of this, that it is not you and not the other person, but exists as a fusion of what each of you brings. This is a thing to cherish and to nurture. Be active in feeding your relationships. Connections that are steeped in truth and the sharing of your inner spirit bring with them calm, joy, and strength to meet the challenges of everyday life.

Being in physical proximity can become a path to feeling that third entity with your senses and emotions. Just sitting shoulder to shoulder or looking at each other with awareness brings that intimacy of conscious connection. When you are relating from a distance, something we have all had to develop as a result of Covid and beyond, it can come through an alignment of thoughts, shared emotions, support, stories, creativity, and experiences told and felt together.

Through the long period of isolation we have all endured, many have lost the understanding and even the skills to keep relationships current and the interactions in the present. Those who have a partner or roommate have often limited their real-time relationships to those they live with. Many of you do not notice or realize just how circumscribed your direct relating has become. You may have slipped into a pattern of seldom visiting back and forth with friends, or become used to spending most of your time with those in your limited local circle.

True, we all gained a lot through the world of internet classes, meetings and get-togethers during these years following Covid isolation. But now it is time to relearn the art of relating directly and more broadly to one another as a part of our day-to-day lives. Come out and play in the greater community. Renew and revitalize your relationships. Cherish them and make them part of your present experience.

Photo credit: Phil Mayes
Photo note: Maude, Iris, Catherine

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