Harden Elkington
Let’s say you have a group of people whom you regularly hang out with. They are your friends, and you regularly interact with them for long periods of time.
This particular group is particularly strong because most of them have been through a lot together. They would do anything for each other, and they often hang out in large groups.
Now, let’s say you add more people to this group. They seem really nice, and they also have a lot of friends who hang out with the original group.
You start spending time with them because everyone else is doing it and you think you should too. Over time, new people talk about something that makes you feel uncomfortable or do something that makes you feel uncomfortable.
They don’t mean to make you feel bad, but they do.
You tell them about it and ask them not to do it anymore. Sometimes they’ll stop because the group tells them why this is a problem, other times they won’t because their friends aren’t going to stop them from doing it.
In the end, you feel pretty bad because of the way these people interact with you.
You still want to hang out with them, but you can’t always trust them and they don’t understand where you’re coming from. They have a different perspective on things too so they think what they are doing is fine.
You spend less time with them and either avoid them or walk on eggshells around them.
Building connection in a relationship
When there is a strong emotional connection between two people, they can feel each other’s feelings and be affected by them.
When one person in the relationship has been hurt, either from their past or from an argument with their partner, it can be difficult to build this connection back up again.
But every time you share your worries and concerns with each other it is one step towards rebuilding that connection.
When you have an emotional connection it makes life easier, not just in your relationship but also overall. Because you can feel what the other person is feeling and think about what they are thinking.
This means that you don’t need to guess at what they’re doing or why they’re acting the way they are because you just know. And if one of you is feeling down, it won’t be long until the other feels that way too.
The first step towards building this connection back up again after a fight or argument is to own your part in it.
You may have been right or you may have been wrong but when an argument happens, you both have to accept the part that each of you had to play.
Once both people do this then they can not only work on how to resolve things from now on but also focus on making amends for what has been done.
When a person comes into a relationship with a past that is troubling them or something that happened just before they met their partner, it can bring a lot of issues to the relationship.
But when these things are talked about and shared with each other, it gives them a chance to be resolved.
The same goes for things that have happened after the relationship started. no one is perfect and we all make mistakes at times but how you choose to deal with those mistakes is what determines how strong your relationship will be.
If you are both willing to work on it then you have a much better chance of staying together long term.
If one person decides that the past is too much for them to deal with, or they just don’t think talking about things can change anything, then why would the other person try to change anything either?
That’s not saying that if one person doesn’t want to talk about something, they don’t have to.
But why would you want a relationship where the two of you will never be able to share your life together and support each other?
Building connections with costumers
Building a strong relationship with the customers is a powerful way to differentiate your product from others and capture more market share.
Today’s social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, offer amazing opportunities for marketers to build a close connection with their customers.
More importantly, they can provide an emotional connection.
many marketers are taking advantage of this possibility to build stronger relationships with their customers by creating interactive stories that people can easily share on their Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and blogs.
This process is relatively easy to accomplish by using tools such as Narrative Science invented by journalists interested in automating the writing of articles about sports statistics, and Fantasy Sports for generating fun and engaging scores.
By using these tools, you can create stories that will be published in your customers’ feeds and shared with their connections.
This process can be used to provide useful or fun content which brings value to your customers.
Customers will appreciate this content, especially if it is original and relevant.
your Facebook page should represent you, your brand or your company better than any other social media channel. It’s where most people are going to form opinions about what you are actually all about.
If you run a business, then your Facebook page is an opportunity to focus on building loyalty and trust among customers.
If you are a brand or a cause, then it is the best place from which to maintain relationships with potential customers and influence them with “brand evangelists.”
Building connections with friends and family
is more than just “likes” and comments on posts
According to the book The Art of Friendship by psychoanalyst Martin Bergmann, there are six steps to building meaningful relationships with others.
He suggests that two of the most important keys to fostering lasting friendships are deep empathy and acceptance.
“[Acceptance] is an active choice we make to refrain from responding negatively, resisting or judging,” says Bergmann. Instead, we choose to see things from other people’s points of view and acknowledge their experiences.
The highest stage of friendship is when you feel totally comfortable with someone and “share the pain” in your life. When we reach that place with others it creates a bond that can never be undone and is priceless.
As we grow older, we tend to share more of our personal lives with friends and family through social media – sharing photos and stories – which Bergmann says can also help forge meaningful relationships as long as we do it organically.
“Social media cannot take the place of face-to-face communication,” he says. “But when we use social media in a way to enhance our face-to-face friendships, it’s very positive.”
When we approach social networks with an “intention to connect” and see them as opportunities to strengthen bonds with the important people in our lives rather than just another tool to keep up with what’s going on, it can really pay off.
You may not have a lot of friends – but the ones you do have know your life story and will always be there for you no matter how long it’s been since you last connected.
When we fail to maintain relationships with people who are important to us, we feel a sense of loss that can never be replaced, says Bergmann.
“It feels very painful when a relationship ends,” he says. “In a way, we feel cheated.”
But if managed correctly, relationships could also add a sense of completeness to our lives. They provide an important connection to something much larger than ourselves and create meaning in our lives.
- See also: the science of motivating people
- See also: choosing pain may be a key to a meaningful life
Conclusion
We all have a need to connect with other people for one reason or another. Whether it is to fulfill a desire for friendship, create opportunities to give and receive love or nurture our soul.
It doesn’t matter how much money you make – there is always enough time to be friendlier towards others and invest in life-long relationships which can last a lifetime.
Although it is a lot more difficult to maintain a relationship with someone from the distance, there are many new tools available on the internet that can help us do so.
It is up to us as individuals to use those tools and choose wisely who we keep close to for life.
Because “the quality of our lives depends on the quality of our connections with other people.”
