Don’t Lose Connection!

I have been spending some time on John Maxwell’s newest book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. Amazing reading. Have learned a lot from it, and my next few blogs under the Communications page will reflect on things I have learned and experienced from this book.

To me, there is nothing harder in life then connecting with people. Where there are people, there will be conflict. Big or small, conflict is just around the corner, and that is simply because we all exercise our freedom to disagree from something, at some point. I have heard stories from friends, over and over again, about disagreements with friends they have had for a very long time. But now, the relationship of years is gone. As I started to reflect on the possible causes for the problem, I found myself thinking that maybe we take for granted our long-time relationships because we no longer apply the principles and values that brought us together in the first place. At the beginning of a great friendship, we are usually tolerant of the flaws of other people. Their personality seems actually cute, and we don’t care how much they dislike the things we like the most. After all, it is just a difference of opinion.

Suddenly, it all goes away. We no longer tolerate their flaws, and we cannot take their “weird” personally for one more minute. On top of it, we think, “How stupid you have to be to not like what I like.” That has happened to me so many times. All of the sudden the connection has been lost. When we reach that point in our relationship with others, I believe it is just our lack of maturity showing off! Yes, that is right, immaturity on display, for everyone to see. In his book, John Maxwell states, “Maturity is the ability to see and act on behalf of others.”

I used to say that the problem with teenagers is that they don’t have enough age, meaning that maturity is connected to age. But as I grow older, I start to see that for some, maturity does not come with age; age comes alone.

Maybe it is time for us to work a little harder on our relationships. We are all individuals with different opinions, tastes, and preferences, and with the amazing ability to maintain a life-long relationship with each other. What makes a relationship a connection that lasts for a lifetime? It is not how much we agree, but how much we really care for each other