We define relationship as involvement with something or someone else.
There are two kinds of people. The first kind of person thinks there are two kinds of people. The second kind knows there are as many kinds of people as there are people! For the first group life must be defined as “Them or Me.” The second group steps bravely into relationship with life. How can we improve our relationship to our lives?
Stepping into the uncertainty of countless ways to express ourselves is not an easy task. We must be prepared at any moment to switch gears. We must be willing to allow our experiences to take many forms. We must possess a self-grounding. Not everyone was created with automatic self-grounding, but it can be learned.
What is a relationship?
Relationships are not restricted to the romantic type of interaction. We are in relationship with everything around us. My community just experienced a major fire storm. The fire blossomed from a patch of burning grass along the freeway to a house devouring monster in just a few minutes. Suddenly everyone in my community was in a relationship with fire, with our neighbors. We were in a relationship with our fears, with heroes on fire trucks. Without warning we were called upon to examine our relationship to life itself. Within hours we were in a relationship with neighboring communities. We were in a relationship with strangers downwind of our community.
Our evolving relationship with life.
Not everyone around me was able to adjust their outlook on life. Many people found themselves frozen with fear. Some people could not make even the most basic decisions. For my part, I found myself, for a short time, feeling like a helpless victim of events beyond my control. What I knew about my life, my default settings, was thrown into disarray. I no longer felt I was the master of my own life. What I had to do was find a new definition of who I am, what I did, and what I would do. This realization called me to be proactive about my life. I had to let my definition of life, as I knew it, evolve somehow. For a couple of days it was All About Me. How I chose to react to these new realities. Would I cower in fear? Would I reach-out to discover ways to take control of my environment? These were my choices. Those who believe there are two relationships in life; good and bad, froze in fear. Those who evolved with the life situation contributed to the positive outcome as we could.
Evolving your relationship with life.
You do not have to experience a major event such as a wild fire to be called to evolve your relationship with life. Being supportive to your partner as they change is just as demanding as enduring a wild fire. Allowing our children to evolve demands we examine our definitions of life. The tree that stands against the wind topples. The tree that bends with the wind while keeping its roots survives.
It’s All About Me
I can help you bend with the wind and keep your root structure. I offer many tools to evolve your relationship with life in my book It’s All About Me, The Involved Observer. Reboot your definition of life, read It’s All About Me. Available at Amazon.com. Click the book cover below for a sample read.
