Ten Ways To Bring Spirit To Your Relationships

[Guest guest]

Ten Ways To Bring Spirit To Your Relationships

Whether you want to deepen your marriage, attract a mate, or just get

along better with your boss, it always helps when you bring Spirit

into your relationships. Many times we get caught up in " taking care

of business " in relationships and we go through the motions,

forgetting all about Spirit.

When you bring Spirit to your relationships, you are drawing from a

power that is infinite. How can we do that more? Here are some

starters:

1. Listen

Really listen. Don't try to " do active listening, " or any other

listening technique. When you're concentrating on a technique, you're

not listening. Just take in what the other person has to say. Receive

the meaning of the message, without immediately jumping to respond to

the message. Listening helps you connect with people. Spirit loves to

show up when people are connecting.

2. Practice Non-judgment

You never know how something might serve the ultimate good in the

long run. It is not up to us to decide that the other person is right

or wrong, good or bad. This does not mean you cannot assess things in

your relationships. You can assess whether someone is being sincere,

honest, trustworthy and so on. We just don't have to assign a value

judgment to that, by saying it is good or bad. It just IS. And what

you make of it - is up to you.

3. Seek to Understand the Other

Don't worry about being misunderstood. When you drop your concern

about that, and get curious about understanding the other person, two

things happen. First, you stop stressing yourself about what others

think of you. Second, you show the other person that they are

important to you. When the other person sees that they are genuinely

important to you, they will generally return the feeling. Not to

mention, being able to understand another person just feels good, and

feeling good always brings Spirit to relationships.

4. Be Honest

If someone likes you for something that you're not, then it's not you

that they like. Be who you are. Most people will respect you for your

honesty, even if they don't agree with you. But don't go along with

others just to please them, if it doesn't please you too. People will

sense your discomfort and yet may not know why, which will create

tension in the relationship where it's not necessary. Be true to

yourself by speaking up and telling the truth about who you are and

what you desire. I always say, " If you're not being true to yourself,

you're not being true to anyone else. "

5. Eat Together

You've got to break bread together. And it can't be just a hamburger

in the car on the way to a show. There is no substitute for sitting

down and sharing a meal with a person. Animals will not eat when they

are threatened. When you eat with someone, you are showing them that

you trust them. And when two people are trusting each other, THERE is

Spirit.

6. Stop Analyzing the Relationship

Stop analyzing, stop worrying about the future of your relationship

and just BE in the relationship. Enjoy the relationship here and now.

The here and now - is your bridge to the future. If you are spending

your todays worried about your tomorrows, you're not here, in today,

doing what it takes to build something that can endure.

7. Say Thank You

The more you are thankful, the more you will have to be thankful for.

And of course, people usually like being thanked. Saying thank you is

like returning what's been given to you, with interest, except it

doesn't cost you anything. Most of the time, thanking someone will

make you feel just as good as the other person feels hearing it,

sometimes even better.

8. Look to See What You Can Learn

When we are open to learning, we are expanding. When we are

expanding, we are growing. When we are growing, that's the work of

Spirit. There is always something more for us to learn. When we stop

learning, we stop growing, and when we're not growing, we're dying.

Learn, and live!

9. Be Selfish

I'm talking Selfish, NOT selfish. Self with a big " S, " not a small

one. What you are doing in the relationship needs to be more

important to you than what the other person is doing in the

relationship, if you want Spirit to show up. You can't control the

other person. You can't always know what another person's intentions

are. But you can control yourself, and you can know your own

intentions. When you concentrate on your own desires, intentions and

actions, rather than those of the other person, you are taking

responsibility for your part in the relationship. No one else can do

that for you.

10. Know that You Are Beautiful

The spirit inside of you came from The Divine Light. If you are

alive, you have light inside of you, and that light is beautiful.

When you see the beauty in yourself, it's easier to see it in others.

Enjoy the beauty that is in you. Admire it. Let it make you smile,

the way the beauty of a child or a sunset makes you smile. Your sense

of beauty will become contagious.

Remember that the purpose of relationships is spiritual growth. Every

interaction is one more opportunity to become more of who you truly

are.

Spirit is the breath of life in relationships. Without it, we fall

short of connecting with others. Bring more of Spirit to your

relationships and watch how much easier it is to get along, and to

find fulfillment in all your interactions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You have permission to reprint what you just read.

http://intentionalone.com/yabb/YaBB.pl