Wrapping up Relationships: February’s issue in review

We have a relationship with everyone we meet—whether we like it or not.  Navigating relationships is at the crux of humanity.  When we are on point in our relationships, we feel great!  When our relationships are suffering—whether that is our relationship with ourselves, a troublesome family member, or a romantic interest—everything else suffers. Building healthy and productive relationships helps us in every aspect of our lives.

That’s why, this month, we chose to tackle the concept of relationships from a variety of angles—discussing everything from our relationship with ourselves, to sex and intimacy, and even our relationship with the paranormal.  Here’s a peek into what we found.

Sometimes a mentor is all you need to grab your dreams. Mind Key strives to be that boost for young writers and others who seek a career in the field of wellness.  Danielle Rose shares her work helping people find their perfect career in Building the career of your dreams–relationship with students

Meanwhile, Vera Remes shared how spiritual and paranormal investigations help us better understand our relationship with other entities in Helping spirits–White Raven Investigates our relationship with the Paranormal.

Relationship with self

Relationships with others is essential to how we view and navigate the world—but navigating relationships is even more important to how we experience our successes and failures is our relationship with self.

In Discovering my path: the story behind “Gutless and Grateful, creative visionary, Amy Oestricher, tells us how sometimes a big detour can help you reach your goals ways you never imagined.

Our relationship-with-self dictates all other relationships. In Looking in the Mirror, Barbara Steingas communicates with her inner child to release old beliefs and patterns from the past, is the key to accessing the future we desire.

Research indicates that the attachment style we develop during childhood has a lasting effect on our adult romantic relationships. Carlie Currier shares her research on this in Healing the Wounds of Youth Through Romantic Relationships.

What if simply feeling bad in a relationship is enough to decide to let go? When we remember that we are our best own source of what we need, we have a new place to choose from. Letting go of toxic relationships by Wendy Watson-Hallowell offers excellent advice for putting those troublesome relationships of old—even the ones we don’t really want to let go of—to bed.

Energy and boundaries

Energy is all around us. It’s amplified in relationships, but when we don’t have boundaries for that amped up energy, things start go awry.  The following articles talk about keeping abundant human energy in check, so it can work for you, not against.

How you react to a situation is your choice.  In Live and Let Live: A philosophy for strong relationships, Vera Remes advises that it’s not all about what has happened to you, but what you do about it.

Dr. Lisa Avila has found that so many of her clients are feeling powerless lately. In Overcoming helplessness in a victimized world she offers an action plan for navigating marginalization, eliminating victimization, and playing large.

Mind Key intern, Paola Scaduto, writes how the The Power of Positivity can change the way we react and relate to the world around us, improve overall health, wellbeing and longevity, and help us achieve our dreams.

In There is strength in distance: The benefit of long distance relationships, Mind Key intern, Rebecca Pall proves how love and support can overcome any amount of distance.

Lack of sleep can affect mental health, physical health, and the health of relationships. Fall 2016 graduate of WPUNJ, Mary Thorpe, discusses how better sleep is difficult for everyone, particularly college students, in How many all-nighters are too many–your relationship with sleep.

Intimacy and sex

Sex is an amazing experience, and one that is integral to the human condition. It affects, and is affected by, our health, our personal belief systems, and our relationship with those we love most.  Unfortunately, the discussion usually ends with quantity, not quality, and rarely ever how it affects our life as a whole.

Sex affects both our relationship with intimacy, and with our loved ones. Mind Key writer, Ojanae Ellison interviews Mind Key’s belief coach, Wendy Watson-Hallowell and integrative health specialist, Dr. Lisa Avila, to navigate relationships in Intimacy and wellness: Your relationship with sex.

“Women in Cloaks” by Alma Carel

Spiritual issues can manifest themselves as sexual issues. In Sexual dysfunction: A physical or energetic representation of health?, Dr. Lisa Avila discusses some of the underlying paradigms of sexual expression by society. She offers “hold and release” and “full wave breathing” techniques. These techniques help take control of our own bodies and feel more connected to ourselves and our partners.

Charla Dury explains that teaching kids means working through relationship issues, sharing your experiences, demonstrating an ability to work through issues, and to listen in Teaching your teen about healthy relationship boundaries.

In the Middle East, sex is surrounded by silence. In Sex in two worlds: A Middle Eastern perspective on intimacy. Colleen Jennings suggests that this silence can offer a lens by which Western cultures might expand and improve sexual relationships.

Being in a long term relationship doesn’t offer an exempt card for STD testing. In STDs—Don’t let your long-term relationship fool you, Melissa Casiano, student writer at William Paterson University, NJ, explains why yearly testing is recommended for those in long-term monogamous relationships.

Is your head spinning?  Ready to take a break from the relationships of your life? Is it time to jump into the freshness that is spring?  Us too…. Stay tuned for March’s issue on Renewal. We’ll discuss personal and emotional growth, overcoming addiction, and using the energy of the season to manifest our dreams.