Relationships, Compassion and Empathy

In general, the more quality social support you can draw upon from family and friends, the more flexible and resilient you can be in stressful situations. Having a support system helps in confidence in one’s abilities and allows a more positive approach to life. Maintaining one’s friendships and love appears to be important not only for resiliency but for physical and emotional health. Relationships however require ongoing cultivation and attention if

a healthy support system is to remain. In order to maintain these healthy relationships, it is vital to know:

• how they work and what is expected of you as a partner in a relationship,
• to not take them for granted, and
• to make commitments and put in the time necessary to keep them in good shape.

Any relationship can be just as important as the other- "In fact, every time you communicate any sort of information to anyone else, you are forming a real, if transient relationship with that person."

Quality of the relationship- determines who will be there to support and the care you will get when needed. One or a few committed high quality relationships are far more valuable than many less meaningful ones.

Your Ability To Ask For Help- the easier it is to ask for and accept help, the better the value you will receive. 

Maintain a certain level of reciprocity- relationships grow and cultivate from both sides

Boundaries and communication- Understanding and commuinication determines the boundaries in a relationship. It is important to respect these boundaries of one another as to not upset a person and create any miscommunication. Knowing your own boundaries will too help creat and or maintain a relationship with the appropriate communication. For example: the relationship with your a dancer's fellow company members versus their director. All these relationships however would be important to maintain as the eople you work with aid in keeping a sound and healthy support system. Thus creating a healthy environment to work in. 

"If you want to become emotionally close to someone, you'll need to share your feelings and thoughts with that person. You sabotage your chances for closeness and intimacy when you remain completely emotionally guarded and only discuss ideas."

Very interesting here as with dancers, intimate relationships are formed through the work they express and the partner work they do. However their personal emotions take a huge toll from the demanding work they do. It would only seem right how a dancer should maintain healthy relationships in their workplace in order to have a stable emotional well-being. 

Commitment- aids in the maintenance of a relationship

Be Empathetic and compassionate- when someone is willing to put aside their concerns for a while and witness the others' needs and experiences is universally appreciated as a precious gift; decreases loneliness and strengthens bonds of a relationship both ways.  

"Make the effort to maintain existing relationships even when doing so means going the extra mile. The connections we make throughout our lives continuously change.

As a consequence of this change, many good relationships end simply because they become inconvenient to nurture. Such unfortunate endings need not occur if both relationship partners take the time to periodically keep in touch. A little maintenance can go a long way."

Mills, H., Dombeck, M., June 2005. Emotional Resilience, MentalHelp.net (online). Available at: http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=5795&cn=29