There are five parts to the series, and the theme is: The Steps to Building a Meaningful and Successful Relationship is like Climbing a Ladder. Each day this week, we’ll be sharing another piece. Enjoy and feel free to comment.
Erasto and I have just begun a journey, this journey in which we have reconnected after almost 30 years. He and I went to high school together and found that we may be soul-mates. We have both experienced life and have loved and learned, but the most profound thing that he and I share is the work we have done to make our lives more fulfilled.
We have both found emotional health by learning to love ourselves to the fullest, and we are now sharing our hard work with one another. We are experiencing a connection unlike any we have ever entered upon in our adult lives.
Step 1 on the ladder of love is Know yourself:
In order to be one half of a truly healthy relationship, you must first know who you are separate and apart from another person.
What do you believe in? What do you stand for? What are your issues?
It’s very difficult to know what you want in a mate if you don’t know who you are.
So, how do we get to know ourselves?
This is not an easy question because we spend most of our lives thinking we already know ourselves until we are met with one of life’s hard lessons, a difficult breakup, the death of a loved one or some other unexpected loss. It’s very often hard to know what we don’t know, until suddenly a door opens and we become aware of some part of ourselves we never knew.
A few good ways to begin opening these doors includes reading relationship books and attending emotional literacy seminars and workshops. There are a lot of people who have done this work already and they are often the first best resource for people just beginning the journey of self exploration.
The true power in knowing yourself, is that by beginning to know yourself, you begin to know others.
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