I hope that 2011 is off to a great start for you, your friends, and your family. The New Year is one of my favorite times of year because it is a time of new beginnings. Whether committing to healthier living or changing a bad habit, January is a great time in our lives for new and fresh starts.
We all live in relationship with one another. What a great time to assess your relationships. If you are married, this is a great time to think about your relationship with your spouse. If you are a parent, consider improving your relationship with your children. Perhaps a relationship with a friend needs some tender loving care.
I hope that these Relationship Resolutions will help you take stock and nurture and enhance all your relationships.
Gloria Martin
Resolve to:
- Spend lots of time together – Talk on the phone, have lunch, go for a bike ride, take a class together. Invite someone new to lunch every month.
- Talk to each other – Check out assumptions. Commit to work on issues that create conflict.
- Listen to your friends and family – Listen deeply, honestly, and without judgment.
- Tell the people whom you love what you need – It is a myth that we can read the minds of our loved ones.
- Forgive, forgive, forgive – Let go of grudges and past hurts. Commit to stop hurting one another.
- Say thank you and give compliments generously – Do a favor for someone. Give and receive compliments graciously.
- Lighten up, laugh, smile – Don’t take life so seriously. Give grace to yourself and your relationships.
- Do something special for no reason at all – Send flowers, a card, pay for lunch, etc.
- Develop rituals with friends and family – Be intentional about celebrating rituals together.
- Respect yourself and all your relationships – Be kind in your dealings with each other.
Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Clarissa Pinkola Estes
