How often do you find yourself saying this?
“I am so busy with work, where is the time for family and friends??”
We complain that relationships are becoming mundane and mechanical and we don’t care for one another as we should be doing. The question is, is it true that we don’t have time? We all have only 24 hours a day, but if you keenly notice, it’s it depends on the way we think and in our attitude towards work and life. While productive people use their 24 hours in a productive way and make time for everything, the rest of us complain that 24 hours are never enough and we cannot seem to accommodate all our activities!!
Let us see how some tiny habits can improve our quality of living and relationships...
Family first: Considering most of our day time is spent at workplace and for travel, there is little time left for our personal life. The point to ponder is, how effectively are we using it? Are we spending as much time as we should with our family although we live with them? How many times in a week do we really sit with our family for a leisure talk? “Not so often” would be the answer, well at least from most of us!
Now, if we wish to tackle this, we need to initially set aside a good 30-60 minutes of our time each day for family, like it’s an exercise. Although it sounds like a mechanical thing to do, you’ll be surprised to see the vibe easy up gradually and you will find yourself looking forward for this “family time”!
Tip: Do this for a month and you’ll thank yourself!
One person a week: Thanks to smart phones, communication has become easier than ever… but the social media has been swallowing all the benefits! Communication these days happens through picture uploads, likes and shares and hardly ever, one-on-one – and that’s pretty unfortunate…
One great idea to revive our relations with all our good old friends ( childhood, school, collage, University etc) and relatives would be pick one person each week and make a call or send them a nice message asking about their well being or stating something you appreciate about them. It’s in fact a beautiful way to rekindle the bond and an instant mood booster!! It could actually be the nicest thing you’d be doing that day, coz it not only makes you feel good but also the other person will feel cared for acknowledged!! So what are you waiting for?? Pick your phone now.
Listen fully and pause before responding: The foundation for any good relationship is mutual respect. One feels respected when one is heard to… but the problem with communication has come to be this – “we hear to respond and not to understand!” Good listening can help the opposite person express himself and also explore himself - and this is the biggest gift you can ever give them!! To build great relationships, it is necessary to listen to the other person’s perspective and then genuinely give it a thought before you respond. Otherwise, situations become tense and stressful. Take enough time to pause and think before giving a response. Ask yourself, would this make a good impact?
Neighbors can be good friends: It’s beautiful to stop by to smile and say hello to a neighbor and better still a stranger! This habit is worth inculcating for it gives freshness to an ordinary day and enhances our social relations! An effort to walk over to them and greet or a friendly chat with them once in a while will help in creating a friendlier community and in no time our neighbors may become our best friends.
We are social beings and we all need validation and genuine smiles to sustain ourselves in these days of emotional crises with lots of tensions and stress. Let us make some genuine efforts to strengthen our relationships and live a healthy and happy life, inside-out!
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