Relationships
Building Better Connections: Three Strategies for a Healthier Relationship
Written by
Inner Clarity
August 29, 2024
Regardless of where we are, our lives are inextricably tied to the people we’re surrounded by. Whether that’s family, friends, workmates, or even outlying acquaintances, everyone in our orbit has the ability to impact our overall well-being. That’s why learning how to foster strong, positive connections with those around us is such an important endeavor. Online relationship counseling can help you understand what healthy interpersonal bonds look like and how to facilitate them with the people you care about.
Review this Inner Clarity guide for three practical steps toward improving the romantic, familial, and platonic relationships that populate your life in order to attain balance for a clear mind.
Experts agree that what each individual first recognizes as a healthy relationship often derives from what they saw modeled while young. If people in your childhood household avoided discussing their emotions or failed to listen to one another, you may have developed a belief, through no fault of your own, that it’s right to carry on that behavior in your other relationships.
But it’s important to affirm that healthy relationships consist of people who are committed to identifying their emotions, sharing them, and therefore appreciating each others’ feelings. The relationships you want in your life, the kind that will support you, are built on mutual respect and trust. While it’s relatively common for someone to have differing expectations or even act dishonestly, there’s no good reason to tolerate that kind of conduct from folks you know and love.
Unless you live alone on a remote island, every day offers an opportunity to uphold the kinds of connections that you enjoy and value. By employing an active communication style, intentionally approaching your relationships from a place of empathy, and firming up clear boundaries that buttress the needs and limits of all parties involved, you can feel confident that you’re well prepared to properly maintain the ties that you have to others and create ever new ones.
A commitment to open communication lays the foundation of any healthy relationship. Without being honest with someone about what you’re thinking and experiencing, wanting and needing, how else can you enable that person to understand or meet your expectations? Though it’s a two-way street, of course. Effective communication requires that each participant be quiet while the other person is speaking and genuinely listen to what they’re saying.
In practice, try offering physical cues while someone’s sharing something with you, like nodding or making eye contact to let them know that you’re being present. Another great strategy is to couch your messages in a specific structure: state what you feel, why you think you feel that way, in what circumstances you’ve noticed feeling it, and what you would like to happen next.
While relaying one's feelings is vital to any relationship, it’s perfectly normal for two people to feel differently about the same situation. This means you may not immediately relate to what your spouse, friend, or colleague is expressing to you. Regardless, relationships can still thrive despite participants’ differing backgrounds if each person prioritizes empathy – the ability to imagine someone else’s perspective and, therefore, gain an understanding of what they are going through. Empathy is important because it allows you to determine that whatever decisions or changes you make together are best for everyone involved.
You can cultivate empathy by explicitly validating the emotions the other person is conveying, asking open-ended questions to learn more about where they are coming from, and examining your own biases to notice what misbeliefs are preventing you from appreciating others' feelings.
Sometimes, it’s difficult to realize that a bond is unhealthy. That’s because friends, romantic partners, and even family members can develop into co-dependent relationships, in which you are incredibly close but ultimately in a way that is unhealthy for each other’s well-being. By setting boundaries, you can set a framework that protects your personal space and individual needs.
Begin by evaluating what kind of behavior is off-limits between you and another person or even in what circumstances you would prefer to spend time together. If someone doesn’t respect your boundary even after you’ve articulated it to them, that’s a clear sign they don’t respect what is best for you. For example, a work peer may begin confiding in you about serious challenges they’re experiencing in their personal life. While it’s important to support your fellow team members, you may also express that you’re not comfortable discussing sensitive matters in the workplace and offer to assist them in finding help from a professional.
Inner Clarity’s virtual therapy services provide one of the best paths forward to solidifying healthy relationships in your daily life. Our experienced mental health providers are prepared to apply their expertise to your unique situation and fashion guidance that will further your beneficial relationships and address your detrimental ones. As a result, our online relationship counseling is capable of transforming sources of stress into reclaimed sources of connection.
Online relationship counseling is also special because you can meet with a trained therapist from the comfort and privacy of your own home. This means scheduling therapy into your busy calendar becomes easier than ever, and you can schedule consultations with counselors from all over the country rather than being limited to what provider offices are available in your local area.
Our romantic, platonic, and familial relationships with other people are essential parts of life, but their integrity must also be maintained. Healthy relationships of the kind that help us feel less alone and give us joy are possible through the exercise of clear communication, empathetic listening, and rational boundaries. Working with a therapist via Inner Clarity’s online relationship counseling will ensure that you can nurture healthy relationships. Request an appointment with an Inner Clarity counselor today to begin your journey toward your best life.
