Close Friendships: Six Tips for How to be the Right Person for Intimate Relationships
Relationships...they would be much easier if not for the people.
You say, "Yes."
She says, "No."
He says, "Left."
You say, "Right."
It all seems like a crazy dance with an unlimited number of steps to learn, memorize and negotiate.
Still, in the end, if you really make an effort, the result will be well worth momentary levels of frustration. There is nothing like an intimate friendship or two. This article discusses six tips for how to establish and be the right person for intimate relationships.
o Be humble - Humility is having a right view of yourself. It is not groveling in the dirt with a woe-is-me attitude. It means that you understand your value and then also the value of others. You recognize that you have strengths and weaknesses and are not overly proud in any way.
o Be a good listener - When you take the time to actively listen to other people, they feel valued and treasured. They feel like you truly care about them and feel that what they have to say is important.
o Be trustworthy - To be trustworthy means that you are true to your word. It means that others can rely on you. Trust is built through respect and consistency in character.
o Be loyal - Establishing close friendships is often difficult. This is because people can be fickle. Hot today, cold tomorrow; whatever the prevailing winds of the day. Being loyal means you do not gossip about someone when they are not present in the room. It also means that when someone begins to disrespect your friend, you pipe in with what you like about them. If you choose to gossip about others, your friends will eventually begin to wonder whether you are slandering them when they are not around, too.
o Be generous - The Bible says a generous man has many friends. When you are liberal with praise as well as buying special gifts, others will want to be around you.
o Be forgiving - Obviously, conflict is the greatest challenge to an intimate relationship. Learning how to manage conflict and how to restore a friendship is one of the most complicated aspects of any companionship. The one who masters how to work through conflict is sure to have the strongest bonds of camaraderie in this life. Forgiveness is one important point in the complex world of managing conflict. When we choose to forgive, our hearts will be free and we will have the capacity to love and build solid, long-term friendships.
In this life, there is nothing more warming and, yet at the same time, more frustrating than establishing close friendships. People are fickle and difficult to pin down. This article has discussed six tips on how to establish and be the right person for intimate relationships.
Eric Coggins - Relationships can be very tricky. Learning how to be the right person can be even more complex. The Best You .Org exists to encourage you to thrive and soar to your best life.
Better Relationships - Four Tips to Active Listening
Life is very precious and has many benefits and gifts. The most important benefit of life is the opportunity to share in a loving relationship with one or more people. If a loving relationship is the chief benefit of life, the greatest gift in life is a close friend or two with whom you can share your most intimate thoughts and feelings. Still, effective relationships include both give and take; both talking and listening. Unfortunately, just about everyone is an expert at speaking, but only a few are good at listening. This article will discuss the basic fundamentals of active listening.
Four tips of active listening are:
• Maintain eye contact - In the American culture, we value eye contact. When someone else is speaking, it is polite to maintain eye contact to show that you are listening. However, it should be noted that sometimes the listener can get so fixated on keeping eye contact that he or she fails to hear what the person is really saying.
• Eliminate distractions. In order to have an intimate conversation, you must eliminate all distractions in order that you might listen intently to what the other person is saying. This means turning off the television, stereo or video game and setting aside the latest novel in order to give your spouse or friend your undivided attention.
• Validate the person's words. The person's thoughts can be validated by summarizing what they share and feeding it back to them. For this to be effective, the feedback should be given without an air of judgment or commentary. When you state back to the person what you think she is attempting to say, she will feel treasured and will be open to share more of her life with you.
• Ask relevant open-ended questions. Closed-ended questions are conversation killers. They are questions (e.g. yes or no questions) that are limited to one word answers. Open-ended questions that are relevant to the conversation will encourage the other person to discuss the matter more thoroughly. Good questions help to clarify what the other person is attempting to say. Friendship is one the most precious gifts of life.
Conversation is one important aspect of building meaningful friendships. Listening is a very important part of an intimate conversation. This article has discussed four tips of active listening.
