UNDERSTANDING THE TRUE MEANING OF RELATIONSHIP
By
nature, humans are programmed to seek endless relationships with different
kinds of people. Relationship in its most basic form can be defined as the
condition of being connected or associated with something or somebody, the
natural tendency for humans to constantly seek relationships implies that we
are involved in at least one type of relationship or the other. The utmost type
of relationship anyone can be involved in is the relationship with the creator;
however, the main focus of this article would be on human relationships. There
are two basic types of human relationships and they are:
1. Interpersonal
relationship; this refers to the relationship with others i.e. friends, family,
spouse, etc.
2.
Intrapersonal relationship; this refers to the relationship with one’s self
The truthful fact is that the
success of the former is greatly dependent on the latter but a lot of folks do
not know this, so they screw up in every relationship they get into and try to
blame the other party for their predicament. Most people expect perfection,
total satisfaction and keep on placing demands on others without making any
contribution or investment. Now, the “BIG” question, what kind of investment
should be made? The golden rule in the bible answers this question expressly
and the instruction is simply to “do unto others what you want others to do
unto you”. In clearer terms, you should possess or be in the process of working
towards possessing whatever quality(ies) you desire in a partner. Many ladies
and even guys want a perfect partner without even making any attempt to meet
the standard of what they want. We should always have it at the back of our
minds that deep calleth unto deep i.e. you can’t be bad and expect to attract
good things, it doesn’t work that way.
The Intrapersonal relationship
(relationship with one’s self) is the degree of association with one’s self
brought about by a focus on knowing and understanding with the aim of
developing one’s personality. This type of relationship is practically one of
the most important associations or connections we should constantly prune and
nurture because the blessing of cultivating the intrapersonal relationship appropriately is
that it affects every other kind of relationship we find ourselves in positively.
Unfortunately, most people overlook the importance of this relationship to
their own detriment. Deeply embedded in this type of relationship are 4 key
concepts which are;
a.
Self-discovery; this involves the learning of what kind of person one really
is, it refers to an in-depth process of finding out what purpose one was
created for. It helps you to understand yourself which would in turn help you
understand others and relate with them better.
b.
Self-development; this comes after self-discovery and it simply means working
in line with findings gotten from the self-discovery phase in other to improve
on yourself and fulfil purpose which would in turn make you a better person.
c. Self-Esteem;
this simply means how you feel about yourself, it refers to the confidence in one’s own
worth. It should be noted that if the first and second concepts above are taken
seriously, it will affect how you feel about yourself positively.
d. Self-Image;
this is closely related to and works hand to hand with self-esteem, it refers
to the way you see yourself i.e. the perception you have of yourself.
Understanding these four concepts
above will go a long way in affecting any relationship we might find ourselves
in because for us to be able to understand people and get along with them well,
we must first understand ourselves.
Conclusively, relationships are
unavoidable and of great importance as they can make or break us. Hence, it is
important to build right kind of relationship with people and this begins with
perfecting or working towards perfecting the personal relationship we have with
ourselves.
By Fashola John.