Happy Valentine’s Day! February is a month people tend to think of love, intimacy and creating meaningful connections with others. Relationships are the most valuable things in our lives whether it is the relationship you have with yourself, your partner, family or friends. I wanted to share with you a few ways to deepen the connections you have with the people in your life.
Be Present: In the age of the smartphone it has become commonplace to see people spending time together while simultaneously on their phones. If you want to create deeper and more meaningful relationships in your life, start by putting your phone away when you are spending time with the people you care about! A study in 2015 actually showed that humans have shorter attention spans than goldfish. We are so use to being bombarded with huge amounts of information and constantly having to multitask, the ability to focus on one thing at a time for more than 8 seconds has become a foreign concept to many. An important way to become close to someone is to actually give them your undivided attention. Be present in the moment and enjoy the time you are spending with them. It is easy to get distracted, but if you can be consciously present with your loved ones it will strengthen your relationship with them.
Engage in Meaningful Conversations: We live in a culture that is always busy and on the go, which tends to lead to people having a lot of surface and superficial conversations with the people in their lives. However one of the best ways to deepen a connection with another person is to actually take the time to dig a little deeper and have a truly honest, engaged, authentic and reciprocated conversation with the people you care about. In order to do that, you have to listen to whomever you are talking to. A lot of the time we don’t really listen to what the other person is saying because we are too preoccupied thinking about how we are going to respond when it is our turn to talk. Listen, ask questions and be open.
Open to Receive Love: A relationship between two people has a flow, a natural give and take. As much as you need to be willing to give love, it is just as important to be open to receiving it from another person. If you aren’t open to receiving, the flow of that energy between the two of you isn’t reaching its full potential or depth. Sometimes this happens when you over analyze or do not believe you are worthy of that affection. In order to develop a truly intimate and meaningful connection with another soul, you have to be willing to open up and receive their love. There has to be a balance of giving and receiving, sharing and listening. When we are able to be open to that flow, we are opening ourselves to a truly special connection with another person.
TED Talk Video
How to Love and Be Loved The most important relationship you will ever have in your life is your relationship with yourself. Before you can truly love anyone else, you have to first love who you are. I wanted to share with you this great TED Talk by Billy Ward on How to Love and Be Loved.
Links for attention span study:
http://www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics/
http://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/
