Relationships are one of the most important things in our life!  We are social animals and need connections with others!

Relationships can be the foundation of our greatest happiness or they can be the cause of pain and misery.

Following are 6 tips to develop more positive and healthy relationships!

1.  Accept and celebrate differences!  One of the biggest challenges in our relationships is that we are all different.  We feel more comfortable when people are more like us, when they think and act in the way we expect them to.  However, relationships would be dull if everyone thought and acted the same; the novelty of sameness would soon wear off.

2. Develop Empathy! “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”   Empathy is a vital skill for successful relationships.  It means taking time to understand where the other person may be coming from instead of judging and criticizing them. Having empathy for someone helps you to be patient and kind to them.

3. Notice and focus on the other person’s assets!  Yes, everyone has traits that irritate us!  Everyone also has traits we admire!  Choose to focus on that which you admire.  Who wants to be around someone who continually points out what is wrong with them?

4. Compliment them!  Compliments make people feel good, and then they associate you with that feeling, which improves your relationship! Just make sure your compliments are genuine and specific.  You’ll get better at complimenting as you practice.

5. Remember, life is like a boomerang!  If you give off positive energy, you’ll get positive back.  If you give off negative energy, you’ll get negative back. 

Love attracts love.  Appreciation attracts appreciation.  Friendliness attracts friendliness.  Cooperativeness attracts cooperativeness.

Grumpiness attracts grumpiness.  Rage attracts rage.  Blaming and complaining attracts blaming and complaining. 

6. The words you use are powerful! Be positive, warm and friendly.  Relationships are like a bank account.  When you use positive words, you make deposits and when you use negative, condemning words, you are making withdrawals.  Positive psychology states that in order for your relationship to be successful, you need to make at least five deposits for every one withdrawal.

Remember, you will be healthier, happier and more satisfied with life when you are in connected and caring relationships!

If you want positive relationhships, then you have to invest your time and energy into cultivating positive relationships!