Successful Relationships Reading Corner
This week, we suggested that you give your relationships the time they deserve. Here are some previous posts sharing ideas for that.
How Hanging Out Enhances and Strengthens Your Relationships “It is about giving our full attention to each other and the connection between us. It doesn’t really matter what we are involved in, as what we are really doing is reveling in being with each other, in sharing who we are and taking pleasure in the deep sense of connection we have. The feelings that arise from this experience are calming, nurturing and give us sustenance for our daily living. If work is the things that we all have to do (whether we enjoy that or not), play is the opposite: where we let go of our obligations, act on our desires, and cavort with the world. Play has been proven to be an important factor in well-being: by relieving stress, supercharging learning and strengthening our connections to each other and the world. Playing together is a powerful tool for creating peaceful relationships.”
How Balancing Work, Play and Hanging Out Benefits Your Relationship “It is frequently stated that having good relationships takes work. We have spoken and written about how it takes presence, intention, belief, acceptance and a desire to find solutions that create mutuality. A critical aspect which is less frequently mentioned is play: playing together, being playful, creating space for laughter and joy. I have been talking a lot lately about an element I find missing in so many of my intimate relationships – hanging out. People gather to meet and eat, meet and accomplish, meet and discuss, meet and produce. Meeting just to be together seems to have fallen off the list of things seen as having value. The culture is one of being busy, ever busier in a world demanding much involvement in keeping everything functioning and moving forward.”
How to Celebrate Your Relationship “Here we sit in a lovely cabin on the third night of our anniversary trip. We’ve taken some days off from all of life’s activities to be alone together celebrating our union. And right there I’d have to say is one of the main elements of our joyous and magical relationship: we take time to be together. Whether it be a special trip like the one we’re on right now, or our hanging out together each night, what is consistent is that we take the time to be together. We love being with each other and consciously choose to make that one of our priorities, regardless of what else is happening. We refer to this as our sacred space and treat it as such. We are renewed and supported by taking this time with each other.”