Mindfulness for Cultivating Wholesome Relationships

There are many ways in which we can use mindfulness practice for working on our relationships. One of the ways for cultivating relationships is to understand the relationship between our feelings and emotions with our needs. Our feelings are indicators of our met or unmet needs. When our needs are met, we feel happy, joyful, content, peaceful etc. If our needs are not met we feel angry, upset, sad, confused, irritated or sad.

Reflect on the following statements:
I’m feeling hurt because I wanted to be included.
I’m feeling confused because I need more information.
I’m feeling irritated because I want things to go more smoothly.
I feel angry because I wanted to be treated with respect.

Our feelings stand for what matters to us. Rather than getting in the way, we consider our feelings and emotions revealing information about ourselves. We consider as a reflection what matters to us. In relationships we need to recognize that my feelings are about my needs and your feelings. We take the responsibility of our feelings and needs and do not attribute to the other in our relationship.

We understand our feelings as pointers to our needs and learn to express them in statements. How it is met or not met. If it is met or not we take responsibility for what we feel and what we need. We act mindfully for taking care of our needs. We do not engage in blaming games. Sadly and unfortunately many people are caught up in reacting to each other and finding fault with others. Such transactions result in unfulfilled and unhappy relations. Life is lived superficially and joylessly.

When we learn and understand the fact of connecting or linking our emotions to our own needs and to communicate with the other mindfully, our relationships start changing for the better. When we recognize and become aware of what is going inside ourselves without reacting and blaming.

Below is a recording from August 8th,2020 Satsang mindfulness meditation session after reading the above article:
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Mindfulness Meditation for cultivating wholesome Relationship