From life experience and nearly 25 years of metaphysical studies, I have identified what I consider to be the single most important skill that we must develop in order to build and maintain thriving interpersonal relationships.
We must become sensitive to – and consistently responsive to – our own internal guidance system. All relationship problems begin and then gather momentum because we are not tuned into our feelings.
Most of us were raised to prioritize the needs of our caregivers, often to the exclusion of our own. We quickly learned that we receive praise when our behavior makes Mommy or Daddy happy, and we grew reliant on this external validation.
Later in life, we looked to parents, friends, colleagues, and lovers for validation of our worthiness, often contorting ourselves in unnatural ways to earn it. Over time, this not only fosters dependency on others but a true disconnection from ourselves.
The secret to creating and maintaining successful, thriving relationships lies in staying attuned to our own inner world – rather than habitually tuning in to the needs of others – so we can receive the early, subtle clues sent to us by our emotional guidance system.
Learning to redirect our focus within is a skill that has to be developed and one that requires continued practice because it flies in the face of how most of us were taught to relate to the world. But this is the only way we can develop awareness as to when something feels right, and choose to take that action, and knowing when something feels wrong and choosing not to take the action.
Being tuned into the fluctuations in our own energy field provides us with a reliable inner compass that we take with us into every aspect of our lives and each new interaction.