Relationships

Maybe this will change with age but I feel like a big half of my energy goes to my friends. Yes, most importantly I’d like to think I focus on my faith, husband and children but in the mix of that is also friends.

According to psychologist Sydney Jourard, most of your joy in life comes from your happy relationships with other people, and most of your problems in life come from unhappy relationships with them. So, basically most of your problems in life are people problems.

Think about your days. Think about something today that has made you smile…I bet your first thought had to do with someone else. We are a social, co-dependent society.  Billions of people log on to Facebook every single day to see what other are doing and to tell the world about their self’s. There is a reason we can’t delete our Facebook accounts or turn off our notifications. We are psychologically dependent on human relations.

I am an extremely social person. I don’t know what to do with my quiet time. I usually turn on the music, text a friend, blog, or call my husband at work. This constant contact with others of course affects my life. If I am talking with someone that is negative and down on life I’ll get off the phone and feel a little down myself. If I am talking to someone that is silly and up beat I will get off the phone and feel happy and content.

How about you?  Do you ever feel like relations with others leave you feeling as if your emotions are a big rollercoaster of emotions that are affected by everyone else’s actions and words? One minute life is great… People are great…then the next you just want to shut the doors and turn off the old social network site and cell phone. How healthy can this be?

I think as we grow healthier and closer to God we know what to do in the quiet. Maybe even we long for the quiet rather than fear it. We understand that there is no escaping relationships on a daily biases but we learn how to do it all in a right way. We need to learn to become co-dependent upon God. Turn to him for the answers. Then the closer we lean in to God the more protected we are from the ways of society so that we aren’t effect by everyone else’s actions because our eyes are on something bigger than that. I think that will allow us to just enjoy our friendships more, pick them more wisely and give them the very best of us. It will make us better not only in our friendships, but our relationships with our children, with our spouses and even our relationship with the people in our past and future. God’s plan for our life is not misery, chaos, uncertainty, and instability. He wants our relationships to be pure, enjoyable, peaceful and to just work.

Chantelle