If You Want More Meaningful Relationships, Schedule Them

Do you have a day planner? Do you have a calendar or schedule where you plan out your activities? A lot of people plan their careers. They have a virtual or physical planner where they keep track of their work commitments. They take their job seriously and know that if they schedule their professional life, they can be more successful than if they take it as it comes.

 

Unfortunately, many people don't do that with their personal lives.

 

That's too bad. We've known for a long time that the human brain loves to be given marching orders. It was designed to respond favorably to order and habitual behavior. If you want deeper connections, you should schedule the experiences that build and maintain them.

 

Who Do You Want a More Meaningful Relationship With?

 

It's been proven that deep relationships make you less likely to develop disease or become sick. Your mind, body, and emotions benefit. The more people you truly understand on a deep level and connect with in a meaningful way, the happier and healthier you will be.

 

This means that when you connect with someone in a big way, you get a significant boost to your well-being. Who wouldn't like that in their lives? To experience all these wonderful benefits of a healthy social life, ask yourself who you can connect with on a deeper level.

 

Once you have that person in mind, sit down and ask yourself some questions. What do they like to do? What values are important to them? Do they like traveling or knitting, or reading? What vices do they have that they wish they could defeat? What are their big goals?

 

If you don't know the answers to these questions, or at least have some general idea of their response, what can you do to discover those answers? In many cases, it doesn't make sense to come out and ask big questions like this. You can spend more time with that person in experiences and activities they enjoy. This helps you indirectly learn that information.

 

Schedule time for those activities. Talk a lot, and listen. Remember your ultimate goal, to get to know the person better. Be flexible and understand that a deep connection might mean a relationship with someone that's unlike you in many ways. Opposites often attract. 

 

Keep these things in mind and schedule the time and emotional energy required to develop a deep and meaningful relationship. Offer a time and environment that's comfortable to them, be yourself, and do this regularly to form a strong, healthy connection.

 

5 Ways to Make a Meaningful Connection with Just about Anyone

It's possible to meaningfully connect with people if you do certain things. This can help you connect with a customer, a neighbor, a coworker, or somebody you want a deeper relationship with. It guarantees effective communication, and both parties are interested in each other somehow.

 

This can help you advance in your career. It makes getting along with your neighbors so much easier. Suddenly your children start doing their chores without you asking them. If you want to connect with someone in a way that makes the relationship more beneficial for both of you, do these five things.

 

1. Ask Their Opinion

 

People love giving their opinion. Ask them what they think. Talk about a hot topic or something that's currently in the news. Avoid religion and politics, and be careful when talking about sports.

 

People remember you when you ask their thoughts on a subject. It shows you value their opinion. Think about what they say. If you can find some points where you agree with them, tell them, you understand their opinion and why. If you differ from them, nod your head and say you can see how they came to that conclusion. Then change the subject.

 

2. Use Their Name, but Don't Overdo It

 

It is said that the sweetest sound to any person is that person's name. If you want to kill a relationship before you get started, forget someone's name. One proven practice for remembering someone's name is to repeat it immediately after you hear it and look the person in the face.

 

Another way to remember someone's name is to link one of their characteristics in your memory. If you meet Jim and he loves fishing, his name becomes Jim Fishing or Fishing Jim in your mind. Use their name frequently in conversations, but don't overdo it, or you'll sound disingenuous.

 

3. Notice Them

 

What are they wearing? Do they have a topic they talk about frequently? Do they mention their children often? Developing a deep connection with someone means really caring about who they are. You've got to notice them. After you recognize certain characteristics or tendencies about someone, you want to do this.

 

4. Reconnect

 

Don't wait for fate to put you two together again. It doesn't matter who you're trying to connect with. Go out of your way to reconnect with them frequently. They'll see that you really do care about the relationship.

 

5. Listen and Remember

 

If you do all the talking, how do you get to know someone? Listen, truly listen, when they talk. Then remember what they say and bring it up in conversation later. This shows that you're making an effort to get to know them.

 

Forming more meaningful connections is possible. You first have to care about the viewpoints and opinions of the other person. Then use these tips to connect on more than the surface level.

 

A Simple 3-Step Process to Practice More Empathy

An empathetic person can identify with what someone else is experiencing. They may have had the same experience before. This isn't necessary to practice empathy. You might just be very good at putting yourself in another person's mindset.

 

Someone tells you they lost their job. They're going through so many different negative emotions. They're concerned about their mortgage payment and other financial issues.

 

A person that loses a dream job could start wondering what happened. It took them a long time to get the job they always wanted. They might have been a great employee. Then something occurred that was out of their control. Perhaps the company went bankrupt.

 

This individual could start questioning his own role in the failure of the company. A ton of different negative emotions might be experienced. The empathetic person is able to fully embrace the emotions the other person is going through even if they've never lost a job before.

 

You might want to help your friends and family members by displaying more empathy. You care about them and want to help them when they're in need. If that's the case, simply put into practice the following three-step technique for showing empathy.

 

Step 1 – Listen Actively

 

You might be a good listener. But are you an active listener? Do you just sit there with a blank expression and take in everything that's being said?

 

An active listener uses body language, facial expressions and eye movement to let the person speaking know that they're engaged and present. They are truly and deeply listening. 

 

You use open-ended questions to try to get more information from the speaker. Active listening uses anything at your disposal to get the speaker to share more information. You communicate to that person that their feelings are understood.

 

Step 2 – Validate the Experience

 

People often tell you what's on their minds because they want you to validate what they're saying. They need to know that it's okay to have certain feelings or think a specific way. When you validate a tough situation, someone's experiencing, you let them know they're not alone.

 

You validate an experience by adopting the same feelings and emotions. Tell the person that you're sharing the experience with them and that it's okay. They should recognize whatever emotions are happening. Then the empathetic person tries to figure out what can be done to fix the problem.

 

Step 3 – Offer Advice

 

Empathy is a two-part process. You take on the perspective of another person. You develop an understanding emotionally of what that person is going through. The second part involves action. You provide assistance of some kind. You try to help the person with their struggle. 

 

One way you can do this is by offering smart advice. Remember to think about their situation and not yours. Don't include any bias or judgment. Put yourself in their shoes and then give them advice to help them out of their problem.

 

Showing empathy means you care. It tells people you're putting your own interests aside for a while. The three-step process we just covered can help you show empathy to the people you care about. You'll find that you benefit as much as they do by making an emotional connection.