Looking for ways to improve your relationships?
You are not alone.
I hear from a lot of people who feel their relationships are not quite what they used to be. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do.
Today, I would like to share a few ways to improve your relationships so you can get back to enjoying the relationships you once had.
Ways to Improve Your Relationships
Relationships do not just exist between couples who are intimately involved. Relationships can be between you and a co-worker or between you and a family member. Relationships can be defined as parent and child, sibling or neighbor.
Each relationship you have this year will have an effect on your mental and physical health. You may have even made the resolution to work on your relationships this year. That is an excellent decision.
Since no relationship is one hundred percent perfect, there are steps you can take to make improvements in each.
2018 can be your best year yet. You can do things to make your relationships thrive. Below are a few suggestions you can implement today.
1. Download the APP
Normally, turning off technology to focus on your relationship would be the first advice given. In this case, however, do just the opposite. There are some fantastic apps you can download that are designed to improve relationships.
Duet is an APP that reminds you to do things with the person with whom you are in a relationship. For example, if you want to be reminded to do something with your sibling, you can enter the information in the APP and will even develop additional ideas for activities you can do.
The Five Love Languages is an APP to help you and your partner show each other love. You can take a quiz and get reminders of unique ways to show love to your partner in a five-week challenge.
Many other apps exist to help you improve relationships. Working with each of your relationships to search and find the right APP could be a fun way to start connecting today.
2. Feed Your Relationships
Just like everything else, your relationship needs food to grow. Food, when it comes to improving relationships, means giving attention to one another. Nurture the relationship.
Nurturing means taking care of your partner. It means listening to their needs and helping them meet those needs. You can do this by participating fully in each other’s lives. Have hobbies that you do together.
Meditate or practice spirituality together. Develop short-term and long-term goals together, setting simple, realistic steps to achieve along the way, reward yourselves each time you reach a goal.
3. Drop Expectations
When you expect a person to behave a certain way, and they do not, you feel disappointment or frustration. One way to change this is to stop expecting.
Focus more on your actions, thoughts, and feelings rather than what you think others should do. It is okay if they do not respond the way you want them to right away. They may be in a different emotional place and are struggling more than you in the moment.
If you place added pressure of expectations on others, that stress may create strain in your relationship.
4. Show Appreciation
Appreciation can be shown in many ways. You can give a gift, spend more time together, or just say “thank you” more often to show you appreciate someone.
A lack of appreciation can make people in relationships feel unworthy, as if they are not valued.
5. Get Support
It does not matter what type of relationship you have, there are a variety of supportive sources that will help you find ways to improve your relationship. For example, a marriage counselor or relationship therapist will listen to your unique situation and provide the guidance you need to improve your relationship based on her experience.
Counselors can teach you specific methods to improve your communication, interactions and other skills needed. They can also direct you to relationship support groups you can attend together, to meet others with the same struggles as you.
6. Take Care of Yourself
It is impossible to completely improve other relationships if you have yet to tend to your mental and physical needs. Taking care of yourself allows you to be at your best. When you are well, you can devote more energy and time to making other relationships better.
If you are looking for ways to improve your relationships, consider starting with yourself first. This will give you a foundation on which you can work to make improvements that involve the other person.
7. Be Transparent
Do not give the other person in your relationship reasons to distrust you. Trust is one feeling that when broken, is hard to rebuild. Being open and honest with the person in your relationship makes it easier to accept and believe what you are telling each other.
It is simple to keep trust maintained. Follow through with what you say you are going to do. Be where you say you are going to be. Tell the truth and your relationship will be stronger.
8. Let it Go
You do not have to win every battle. You do not have to turn every conversation into a battle. It is okay to lose a disagreement. It is okay to let your partner win sometimes. Even if you are right, it helps to even out the wins and losses within your relationship. Do you want to be right or loved? When you both fight to be right and win you end up getting the best of the worst.
Simply disengage rather than act on those feelings you have that are pushing you to fight. Determine if this fight is worth the effort. Many times, arguments take place over unimportant topics. In these instances, let the other person win. You are winning by stopping a fight before it happens.
9. Listen the Right Way
Listening to your partner is essential. Listening requires you to be silent so that they can be heard. Face them when they are talking, put down the cell phone to look them in their eyes, and pay attention to their words.
Do not interrupt when they are talking and offer feedback that lets them know you heard them. They will learn to do the same for you.
10. Laugh Together
Laughter can heal. Research has shown the benefits of laughter are great. It improves your mental and emotional health and can do the same for the other person in your relationship. For this reason, laughing is one of the best ways to improve your relationships together.
Laughter means you are having fun. When you are having fun together, you are building memories and having experiences that make you want to continue your relationship.
Improving your relationships this year is completely possible. Using these 10 tips are a fantastic way to help you get started.