A three part series on Claiming Healthy Relationships Now!
By the Krsnanandini Devi Dasi and Tariq Saleem Ziyad
of the Dasi-Ziyad Family Institute
8 Keys to Healthy Relationships!
We come before you as tellers. There’s good news we will tell you and, unfortunately, there’s bad news.
The Bad: People are afraid to enter into relationships, especially marriage. Rampant divorce and single parenting in our society are leaving so many children vulnerable. Daily we hear reports of child abuse, spousal abuse, elder abuse. People are feeling more and more alienated because of a lack of real friendship. Each of us probably knows someone who doesn’t speak to a family member. You are already far too familiar with this kind of news.
The Good: There is hope. There are skills that people can learn and commitments that we can make to transform our relationships. Further, you as a readers of Healthy Referral can be agents who usher in a new level of healthy, empowering relationships.
First, you should know that there are some basic assumptions we make about you:
We assume:
o that you don’t believe everything you see or hear and paradoxically, you realize that some things unseen or unheard are more real than what you see.
o you acknowledge the Creator, the Cause of all Causes, One Divine Source of all life.
o the understanding that you are a spiritual being having a human experience is not foreign or alien to you—you embrace and relish this coneept;
o that you adhere to at least these 4 principles for a healthy, prosperous life: truthfulness, self-discipline, cleanliness, and compassion.
o Our final assumption is that you know that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, that we reap what we sow, the law of Karma is indeed operating on this material plane.
Now that said, we’ll continue.
Our relationships are likely the most important things in our lives, more important than money, more important than material things. If material things get taken or destroyed, they can be replaced. We cannot take material things with us when we leave this earthly plane. We can, however, take the permanent imprint of a loving relationship with us to our next destination. And, sadly, the effect of a relationship gone awry, that leaves us bitter, can travel with us subtly to our next destination too.
Yet relationships, particularly in our contemporary world, are tremendously challenging. The bad news above gives us a glimpse of this. Physical, verbal, and mental wounds from relationships if not dealt with in healthy ways, can halt progress in every aspect of our lives. Consequently, it is a must that conscious people claim healthy relationships. So we are inspired to share the following 8 Keys Healthy relationships:
1. Take inventory of your current relationships with friends, parents, children, spouse, partners, siblings, employer, employees and neighbors. Take a moment now to consider these relationships. Which ones are healthy? Which ones are not? Once you take inventory, realize that you have a choice. You don’t have to remain in dysfunctional or codependent relationships. You can choose healthy, creative and reciprocal relationships.
2. Accept responsibility for the difficulties in each relationship. Unless you do, you won’t grow. We can only transform the relationships for which we accept responsibility! It is easy to see where the other person is at fault. “If only he would……..<” “If she didn’t say such and such a thing, we wouldn’t have any problems”. However, if we play the “blame game”, we transfer our power to the ones we blame and find ourselves powerless to transform our circumstances.
Part 2 of this informative presentation will appear in the next issue of Healthy Referral—stay tuned! Order: 1. the complete DVD presentation of “8 Keys..” for $15 postpaid. 2. the book: Cleveland Couples: 40 inspiring stories of love and commitment (featuring the authors) for a special Healthy Referral discount of $18 postpaid. (Regular price is $25) The Booklet of 8’s $10 ppd. Send payment to The Dasi-Ziyad Family Institute 3320 Beechwood Ave. Cleveland Heights, OH 44118. Checkout the website of this dynamic institute at www.dasiziyadfamilyinstitute.org for more products and services.
Short Bio: Tariq and Krsnanandini, husband and wife, are certified marriage educators and have presented scores of workshops, seminars and curricula on relationship skill-building and family and youth development to hundreds of couples and individuals. As Co-founders of the Dasi-Ziyad Family Institute, they are dedicated to strengthening relationships, empowering youth, couples and families.
www.dasiziyadfamilyinstitute.org 216-321-0930