Module 2: Relationships

“We are never in a relationship with a person or a thing, we are only ever in a relationship with our thoughts about a person or a thing.”

The Three Thoughts in a Relationship
Relationships are the most misunderstood facet of the human experience.
We believe we are in a relationship with a person, when in fact, we are in a relationship with our thoughts about a person.
How you think about a person is going to be different than how someone else thinks about that same person.
The person, as an individual, in neutral and a circumstance.
Your thoughts about them is what creates the relationship you have with them.

In every relationship, there are three thoughts; there is the thoughts you have about yourself in the relationship, the thoughts you have about the other person in the relationship, and the thoughts you have about the relationship itself.
This is the Relationship Trinity and it exists in every relationship you have.
There is a relationship trinity with each member of your family, with your significant other, with each of your friends, with your employees and coworkers, with acquaintances, with strangers, and even with people you’ve never met before.

Watch the video below for a further explanation of relationships and the Relationship Trinity.

https://vimeo.com/331526001/b8aa3d726c

Self-Study Assignment for Module 2, Day 1

In your notebook, continue to do a thought download every day this week and a model for two of the thoughts in your download.

In your notebook, make three lists and answer the following questions:

Choose two relationships that are close to you.
You can choose a family member, a friend, a significant other, anyone who you have known long enough to develop thoughts about.
For each of these relationships, construct a relationship trinity.

Make a list of how you think about yourself in the relationship.
What is your role?
What is your personality?
What is your title?
What is your identity?
What are all the thoughts you have about yourself in the relationship?

Next, make a list of how you think about the other person in the relationship.
What is their role?
What is their personality?
What is their title?
What is their identity, from your perspective?
What are all the thoughts you have about them in the relationship?

Finally, make a list of how you think about the relationship in general.
It is easy or challenging, fun or boring, exciting, inspirational, draining, or depressing?
Write down everything that comes to your mind when you think about your relationship with this person – not the person themselves (that was the previous list), just the relationship itself.

Now, take a moment to recognize that everything you’ve written down is a thought, not a fact.
Take a moment to see the truth.
Recognize that, even if there are other people who might agree with some of these thoughts, not everyone would.
Some people might even disagree and have completely different thoughts about you in the relationship, the other person in the relationship, and the relationship itself from an outside perspective.
This ability might take time to achieve.
It is the movement in understanding the truth about relationships and creating amazing relationships.