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         The very best human relationships, those that have the best chance of survival, are those that
         have faced and overcome difficult situations together in a spirit of harmonious agreement and
         co-operation. These relationships have benefited from the growth experiences they have
         shared and the participants know that they can deal honestly with individual and shared issues
         in the future.
         Because there will never be such an entity as a perfect human being, there will never be a
         perfect relationship. I am not suggesting that we should rip apart happily acceptable
         relationships looking for faults that don’t exist. Disagreement and conflict are a natural part of
         our evolutionary process. We learn little if anything from experiences that go absolutely
         perfectly, although we should enjoy and savour them when they do occur. Our real growth
         occurs when conflict arises and whilst respecting the feelings, opinion and thoughts of the other,
         we are able to learn and grow through acceptance of another point of view, even if we
         disagree with it. Acceptance of another point of view does not necessarily mean you agree
         with it, acceptance provides the atmosphere for growth.

         As we have discovered in the human needs session, individual human growth is essential to our
         human development, and nowhere is there a greater opportunity for human growth than in the
         relationships we have with others.

         The single most valuable thing to remember about relationships you enjoy, is that they contain
         YOU.

         The relationships that bring us most fulfilment and genuine happiness are those where we are
         truly free to be our authentic selves, the authentic self that doesn’t have to pretend, tell lies, or
         wear masks.

         Any relationship that does not have its basis in honesty and complete individual authenticity, is
         at the mercy of the opposite traits of dishonesty, lies and deception. Truly happy relationships
         are those where the participants encourage each other to be completely truthful with one
         another, whatever that may involve. A relationship cannot be anything more than a pretence
         until the participants both arrive at this level of honesty.
         The origins of our true self go right back to childhood, before we were corrupted by
         circumstances, events and other people who convinced us that it was normal, acceptable
         even, to wear masks, tell lies and practice deception to get through relationships with others.
         I’m not necessarily talking about blatant downright lies, complete fabrications of personality or
         criminal type behaviour here, but these traits start with what appear to be innocent, small
         indiscretions or “white lies” and once the habit is formed, CAN develop into worsened
         behaviour and before we know it, the line is so feint between the truth and deception that we
         barely know the difference.

         My whole purpose when preparing and presenting this course is to deal with truth in the related
         areas of happiness contained in each session.  We read so often, and so many times find from
         experience, that only the truth will set us free.  So many experiences in my life and the lives of
         others I have known, and from my years of research and life experiences to date have led me
         to absolute faith in this point. I have yet to see a set of circumstances, when they are truthfully
         and completely examined, where the absolute truth was not the most beneficial path for the
         parties involved.
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