Explore the Ways in Which You Relate to Others, Barriers and Difficulties to Relating and Your Motivation for Helping Others.

Relationships.   Why do we have them?   Are they important?   I think if most of us are honest we could very happily live with no one else on the earth because relationships can be hard.   But would we be happy?   Even though avoiding people might be the path that offers the least resistance, I don’t think living without relationship would bring us any joy at all.   Why do I think this?   Because I believe that God created us and the reason He created us was for relationship.   First and foremost with Himself, but also for our benefit.   So why then did He make relationships so difficult?   I don’t believe that God made them so difficult but they became difficult with the introduction of sin.   Sadly we have the serpent, Adam and Eve to blame for that!   Up until the serpent got involved, Adam and Eve had a wonderful relationship, but the minute sin was involved, what happened?   Adam blamed Eve and although not recorded, I am sure Eve must have chewed Adam’s ear off for that accusation after God was out of earshot!   God’s heart is for man to have good relationships with Him and with each other.   He designed us that way and so it is important to have relationship with others and with God; and to seek ways of having good relationships.  

Explore the ways in which I relate to others
If truth be told, I personally find relating to others a mind field.   This does not come easily or naturally to me.   As a result, I have found over a lifetime that I have put in place various ways and devices of relating to people – most of them covering up a deeper issue that prevents me from relating to people easily and genuinely.   As a result of my self-exploration through doing this course, I am identifying these area’s and am beginning to take off these masks that were originally mean to protect, but in reality all they do is hide and ultimately isolate.   I love people and I love spending time with people, and so I am fine with short term or superficial relationships.   But I struggle...