35 Simple But Effective Ways To Improve Your Relationships

Sep 04, 2018

These 35 rules for living will dramatically improve your relationships with everyone in your life, from friends to family to coworkers to significant others.

Complicated relationships make life complicated. Most people prefer simplicity and ease, but they don't know what they can do to make their day-to-day relationships better. If you want to improve your relationships, you'll need to make active changes in how you think about both yourself and other people. You'll also need to be willing to be a good friend.

1. Be true to yourself. You should be honest about who you are, what you want, and whether anything is mentally standing in the way of that. This way of living with integrity will attract the right people to you as you become your best self.

2. Share your flaws with other people. You shouldn't need to be perfect around everybody. And when you start showing other people your flaws, they'll trust you enough to open up to you, too.

3. Keep yourself simple. Stop searching for a thousand words to describe what you're feeling and instead, just let yourself feel it. Be the truest essence of yourself.

4. Look for your own approval, no one else's. You should have the capacity to decide whether something is a bad or good choice for you. No one else gets to make that decision for you.

5. Love yourself, care for yourself, and respect yourself. You are the only person you have to spend your entire life with. You should be your own best friend.

6. Make observations about yourself without judging. The next time you feel jealous or inferior, try to take a neutral view of the situation. Don't beat yourself up. Just acknowledge what happened and the feelings you have, and then move on.

7. Become comfortable with your partner having friends of your gender, if you aren't already. Jealousy is a natural emotion, but you can't use it to restrict another person's freedom. You need to trust in your partner.

8. Don't feel like you always need to win an argument. Instead of being right all the time, try quietly accepting what another person has told you.

9. Don't be ashamed of loving. Open your heart to other people and new experiences. Be kind and affectionate where you can to show people how much they matter.

10. Follow what your heart tells you to do. You are the only person who knows you.

11. Be strong enough to stand on your own, but brave enough to be vulnerable and ask for help when it's needed.

12. Accept others for the people they are, not the people you wish they were.

13. Communicate openly with the people in your life.

14. Don't overreact to problems with simple solutions.

15. Declutter your life and try practicing minimalism.

16. Explore your own spirituality. This might be religious, or it might just be an investigation of the self.

17. Love without expecting anything in return. Love is a kindness, not a transaction.

18. Appreciate others. Compliment people and tell them when you've noticed their positive traits. Let them know you value them.

19. Listen to other perspectives without immediately injecting your own. Be open to different thoughts and opinions.

20. Practice being grateful for everything you have.

21. Minimize your complaints. Look for something positive to think about instead, or look for solutions to your problem.

22. Express yourself with calmness and honesty. Don't make decisions you'll regret because of volatile emotions.

23. Try to give at least one compliment to one person a day.

24. Take care to understand how your actions impact others, and to work for kindness instead of potential harm.

25. Believe in your own strength and beauty. No matter what you look like, you are a miracle of a person who gets to live this life any way you want. You are a symbol of strength.

26. Let go of the pain you're holding onto. It's not helping anyone. All it's doing is hurting you.

27. Enjoy life's small pleasures, like a walk in the sun or a lunch date with a friend you care about.

28. Support the goals of the people in your life, and accept their support in turn.

29. Offer the emotional support people need.

30. Give other people room to grow.

31. Open yourself to new experiences and adventures.

32. Spend part of your day relaxing.

33. Live in the present, not the past.

34. Don't live in the future, either.

35. Be aware that your happiness is within your own control.

How do you help nurture loving relationships with other people and yourself?