It occurred to me that these days the word ‘relationship’ is mainly used to refer to an intimate, romantic or sexual relationship and I wanted to find out whether that had always been this way. When I looked it up, I found that before 1944 this had not been the case and it made me wonder how they got to the exactness of that date?
I also learnt that the word ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back.
‘Relationship’ standing for a one-on-one and mainly intimate relationship reminds me of the word ‘drinking’ which, in its modern-day usage, refers to drinking alcohol. When someone says they have stopped drinking, we all know that they are not referring to water, tea, juice or any other of the possible options. Drinking has become synonymous with drinking alcohol.
Likewise, a relationship now denotes a degree of closeness as indicated above, meaning it is either romantic, intimate and/or sexual. But don’t we have relationships with many people, and many things/objects even?
I certainly have a relationship with the people I share my house with; I have a wonderful relationship with my butcher up the road, one that is built on trust and my love and respect for his amazing dexterity, the awesome service, his skills and forever willingness to engage and explain and advise. Nothing is ever too much for him and his staff and I get the same treatment whether I spend $15 or $85.
I also have a relationship with a lady at the local market; together with her son they grow the most wonderful vegetables. There are times during the summer months when I don’t buy from them as what they grow is not what I eat but come the colder months, I stock up big time. We always have a chat, whether I happen to be buying or not.
I remember a conversation with a taxi driver in Sydney – just a short trip to the airport but when I asked him about his country of origin he completely opened up and I learnt more about Afghanistan and the war that was being waged there than any newspaper or other media outlet had ever reported.
Relationships: don’t people have them with their soccer club, with a singer or movie star they admire, with their favourite brand whether that be their beer, a label or favourite sports gear?
What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?
Is it a fact that we are in relationship with many, many people and many things – not only every day, but every minute of the day?
And how supportive are then our relationships? And if they are not, what is our responsibility here? Have we allowed familiarity to creep in, a certain fatigue and boredom? And if so, have we not deserved better and more?
And on a final note – as to our relationships with people, what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’? Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?
By Gabriele Conrad, Goonellabah, NSW
Related Reading:
Relationships Re-Defined
Serge the Friend
Love and Relationship Audio
Words on Serge Benhayon 
The energy we are in and the intimacy we hold another in should set the standard for every relationship.
Having a relationship with truth is to constantly deepen our relationship with the All.
When we understand how power-full words are especially when we connect to the energetic Truth of words, as they give us a deeper understanding and True purpose of a word and also to the old saying ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ a nd in do so we advance our evolution.
Learning that we are in a relationship with everyone we meet even if it is a stranger walking by us in the street now means to me that there is a responsibility to not be in a negative energy say walking along in anger or frustration as what if this is picked up by them walking by which adds to their emotional soup that they are carrying with them which then explodes onto someone else. Is it possible that when we have an argument we are being energetically sick over that person? If this is a possibility no wonder it feels so horrible to be on the receiving end of someone’s outburst.
What occurred to me reading is how much responsibility we have to bring our all to everyone and everything we are in relationship with. Even if we aren’t physically together we are still having an effect. Based on that we are energetically in relationship to everyone and everything on the planet…. and beyond. That’s a lot of relationships, and a huge call to bring our all!
There’s nothing like the feeling of connecting to someone you don’t know. There have been many times when I have felt withdrawn and didn’t want to connect to others but when I’ve made the effort to connect to another I find my mood lifts and I feel lighter. So, what is the power of connection when we choose to go to people, and what difference can it make to the lives of people who are lonely, sad or depressed.
It’s a great point Julie, and connecting to others may mean more than we realise. When we connect people can feel a sense of worth and of being valued, especially when we are with our love as we connect to others.
Reducing words reduces our expression. Thats why I enjoy the etymology of words and even further back, the energetic truth of a word. Life becomes much richer then rather than having a relationship based on reacting to a word.
And also eliminates the use of anything less than being Lovingly expressive towards another.
‘How supportive are then our relationships? And if they are not, what is our responsibility here?’ These are great questions. We all want supportive relationships and are all capable of making them so, by how we choose to be with other people. I can often dismiss the connection I feel with others even in the briefest of interactions, perhaps because I feel it would be a bit over the top for the other person to feel this deep connection. But I have a high suspicion that the problem with that, starts with me. In this world, there is the idea that we have to know someone very well, or to have known them for a long time, to feel a strong connection. But I often feel this connection with people I meet for the first time. Connection is something that is very natural for us to feel with people.
Connection is not only something that is very natural for us to feel, it is just as natural to express – an innate movement towards another/others which we frequently stifle and subvert.
Amazing is it not to feel the connection we have in every relationship and how that eventually feels the ‘Same! Same! no different’ as the Vietnamese saying goes.
A True relationship and intimacy is to let-people-in, or being trans-parent and thus we are parenting ourselves to be more open and responsive in every situation in the most intimate way, which is letting them in and being open.
How rich do we feel when we have relationships as described in this blog, and it cost nothing.
When we us the word ‘relationship’ in the context of a romantic/intimate one, as we do now, we actually dismiss all other relationships as lesser, and if we don’t have the one above we feel lesser ourselves as human beings. Time to bust this one. All relationships are equal if we arrive at them from soul; it is simply the outward expression within them that changes.
“…. all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?” Amen to that.
“Is it a fact that we are in relationship with many, many people and many things – not only every day, but every minute of the day?” So true. yesterday I had a few short conversations in a theatre with a stranger. We definitely had a connection and met each other after I initiated a conversation. A short relationship with someone Ill never see again. However we are most in relationship with ourselves 24/7.
Absolutely Gabrielle, and may I add that all relationships or “bringing back” starts with self being brought back to our True Inner-most or Essences and our essences bings us to another interesting word that could have its roots in returning or “bringing back” our Soul-full-ness.
What you share here is how we tend to put relationships or the word relationship in a box. That is not only so restricting but also very boring! I love and appreciate that I have a truer sense and knowing of the word relationship now, it enables me to see the magic and richness in everyone I meet and also the constant unfolding and depth we can go to with another if we (and they) are so willing.
“all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?” Sums it up exactly thank you Gabriele.
I feel that we fight this Gabriele
“the truth that all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?”
That’s why we have war, abuse, murders etc., because we fight what and who we truly are. And until we stop this inner turmoil we will never have oneness.
I never questioned that I have a relationship with everybody I have met or know but my relationships varied in quality and depth. So what I get out of your amazing blog Gabriele is that because in truth we are all one it would be great if every relationship would have the same quality and depth.
‘What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?’ Yep. Its that word again … assume! Also as you share that we can have a relationship (connection) with someone in a fleeting moment in a store or shop or public transport etc. How we are with ourselves and how we choose to be with all others in every moment is a relationship.
And be intimate, which is being open and letting-them-in, even in a super-market.
I agree Gabriele, the word ‘relationship’ is indeed a funny one in that it is commonly perceived to be the kind that involves romance. And yet, we have relationships with ourselves, friends family, with the clothes we wear with the TV perhaps or with food, and none of these are necessarily romantic yet are very real relationships. When we allow ourselves to come back to the original meaning of words, life begins to make so much more sense.
Gabriele I get what you are saying, we do have a relationship with everyone we meet even if we just pass them by on the street. Our particles are constantly intermingling with each other, so to say we are separated from each other shows to me our ignorance of the science of our surroundings and the universe.
Relationships are the multi-coloured fabric we call life that binds us all together.
Beautifully expressed Steve – so wise.
We have a relationship with everything and everyone, it’s just that the quality and activity within that relationship differs from others.
“Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?” I just love this. Yes, we all come from the same source.
“What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?” A great question Gabriele. I feel I have a relationship with the lovely supermarket checkout woman and also with the petrol checkout one – cos I see them so frequently, and we often exchange a few words. .
‘Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’ YES! Also interesting in how over time we have bastardised so many words including the words relationship and drinking.
What other words can we add to the list that keep us from knowing the truth and, ensures we stay in separation from each other?
When we get out and about we get to see how families interact, and I feel that we sometimes forget what standard of relationship and communication we have set for ourselves as being the ‘norm’, for this may not be everyone’s norm. For example the other day we were out as a family and we were standing close to another family who were clearly on holidays and enjoying a recreational activity, however, we could not help noticing that this family was using foul language to communicate with each other and they were speaking very aggressively to each other and even pushing each other around (this included the adults as well as the children behaving this way). When we got home we talked about the fact that everyone has different standards of what they accept in relationships. And we also realised how important it is to be aware of how we are with each other so that our standard does not slip and possibly become our new normal of relating to each other.
Thank you Gabriele for the great reminder that relationships do abound all around us, and it is not just about the one intimate relationship we may or may not be in…There is so much for us to learn through all relationships.
We tend to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, especially when partners first get together. It is great to learn and experience that every relationship counts and is as important as any other.
To embrace any relationship we have allows for so much learning and fun.
Spot on Esther – it is through relationships with others that we learn the most about ourselves.
It is true our relationships do reach far and wide but we categorise them in a manner of importance and then make more effect with the ones we feel serve us the most.
Ye, we measure and calculate; we look what is to our advantage and generally make sure that our security is paramount.
I wondered what happened from 1944 onwards that began to confine the word ‘relationship’ to someone that is our partner or someone we are in sexual relationship with. Was it to do with WWII and how much this had affected people who no longer knew if friends and family would return or live through the war? I know when I was growing up in the 60’s or 70’s it was a word I rarely heard, so like many words it’s true meaning was diminished to make way for either a lesser or bastardised version. Thank you Gabriel for reminding us of its true meaning and the expansion this offers to us all.
We seem to associate the word relationship with being in a couple’s relationship but the truth is we are in fact in relationship with everyone, even the people we may not meet in this life time.
We keep it tight and narrow so everything and everyone fits our preconceived ideas and we can continue living in the relative comfort of our own making.
We get asked “are you in a relationship?’ or ‘Have you got a relationship?’ as though we were dependent on that one person for our emotional security. And perhaps that’s the ;point…we look out to find emotional security in the world rather than letting ourselves feel our own love and build that first so that we can come together with another already secure in the love that we know.
Great insight – it serves us not to look on the outer for the ‘one and only’ when the love we are longing and looking for is first and foremost within, before it can be shared with others and, in an intimate relationship, with one other.
Yes, we are in relationship with everything, we have a connection within every moment of the day, so it really does pay to question the relationships we have and how supportive they truly are when we take the relationship to self into consideration.
Knowing how the fiddly can opener has to be used and the position of the earth and the time of year for what we need to wear. We are in constant relationships; big and small.
Commitment and consistency are keywords in relationships – and this is what grows the trust and allows a platform for us to move on from, that then expands intimacy and deepening of the relationship. Hence the evolution and growth that is offered to all.
I agree Henrietta, and I find honesty is a key ingredient in building trust.
Relationships do abound around us, and the quality that we offer to one is the quality that we offer to all – you cannot be selective about the quality that you offer for if you are superficial in one this will come into the other relationships and likewise if you go deep in one then this will also come through in the other relationships. Of course this does not mean that you will be physically intimate in bed with everyone, but what it does mean is that the quality of interaction, the honesty and integrity is all the same and is applied accross the board.
We need a new definition of intimacy, one that goes far beyond the usual ‘intimate = physically intimate relationship’; if not it leaves us so very short of the depth of meeting one another that is possible in every single encounter every day.
“And on a final note – as to our relationships with people, what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’? Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?” This is such a wonderful thing to ponder on and if we really let ourselves go there it would change all our relationships for good.
Perhaps we have changed the original meaning of the word only because we don’t want that vibration in our lives, it is much easier for it to “just be semantics” rather than consider the truth of what the word relationship can bring to our lives.
It suits us to make smaller that which is otherwise abundantly and vastly available, in every moment of our life and especially every time we have an opportunity to truly meet one another.
That can be difficult for people, we are very used to walking around with layers and barriers between ourselves and people. For many this is a safety blanket because they (we) have been hurt in the past. And although we all crave to be met and share love with one another, not many of us dare stick their head out because past experience shows that it is not safe.
Would it be true to say that we hold the whole world to ransom for our hurts?
Great point Viktoria, this may be the reason why we tend to struggle in relationships because we are avoiding the true vibration of the word relationship and hence reduce its vibration to make things complicated, hard and a struggle.
True, also, if we all have different meanings to one word how on earth are we ever going to come to a consensus on what our relationship is?
“Is it a fact that we are in relationship with many, many people and many things – not only every day, but every minute of the day?” I would say yes it is. So it is quite odd to consider that we tend to only associate the word ‘relationship’ with the people who we are closest too, as in truth we have a relationship with everyone that we come into contact with.
We are constantly in relationship with ourselves, with God, with others and with life in all it’s aspects and what it truly empowering to reflect on is the quality of relationship we hold with ourselves and our divinity as this is what governs the quality of relationship we live and share thereafter.
It starts within and thus, as within so without as we take that quality into daily life
The fact that we are all connected means that we therefore have a responsibility to bring all of who we are to one another.
There is a deep beauty and joy to treat every encounter we have during the day with the same attentiveness love and care.
Presence in all that we do and with everyone we come into contact with is deeply enriching and makes life very joyous and wholesome.
The problem is not just how limiting is today´s meaning of the word relationship, but also that due to that we miss altogether the importance of being in relationship with many other things of the same importance at least.
It suits us to live in a disjointed and jumbled version of life which functions as tight little boxes, each with their own label, arena and must do’s.
And maybe because we have made relationship an exclusive thing we do not understand it’s true meaning anymore lest live its truth.
The opportunity to learn something about ourselves would be something we embraced if we were not so used to being critical of ourselves, and therefore afraid to consider we might have something to learn.
We regard our lack of perfection as failure and ignore that perfection in physicality is unattainable and that there is indeed, always more to learn.
If we’re committed to being honest and transparent in our relationships, then they have the potential to restore us and others to who we truly are: they offer us the knowing that we already ARE everything we need to be, and a pathway back to that. With the reflections that relationships offer us, everything that isn’t truly part of us is highlighted and can be discarded, and everything that is, can be appreciated, cherished and celebrated.
With relationships, we evolve and return more quickly thanks to the reflection on offer.
Whether we like it or not we are constantly in a relationship with a large number of people. It is up to us to determine what we want the quality of those relationships to be.
Yes, we make the life we live and the relationships we have. The buck, so to speak, stops with us, always.
It is interesting the tendency with which we have to reduce the meanings of words to correlate with humanities declining quality of living. It would seem that this hides the extent to which the quality of our living and state of our health has actually fallen.
Changing, watering down and falsifying the meaning of words is corruption at its most basic and persuasive and where it gets us all, right from childhood through all education channels and right to the end.
It’s really worth appreciating the quality of all our interactions, as in the quality that we bring to them, not seeing any as more or less important but of equal value.
Years ago I observed how funny it was that there were relationships that were labelled close, not by the actual quality of connection, but by virtue of the relationship defining an assumed closeness – for example a husband and wife, a mother and a daughter, a father and son etc. It’s the openness to connection that makes a relationship and not necessarily the longevity or the definition of what kind of relationship it is.
Once we start to deeply connect with ourselves, and still that radiating presence of that inner connection, it becomes very clear that we are in relationship with everybody and that they are in relationship with us.
Exactly right and in this case, the proof is not in the pudding but in the tangibility of the feeling of it.
Awesome Gabrielle – reading the true meaning of “the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back” brings an openness and warmth to my chest – a beautiful reminder that, as you say, in essence, we are all one.
“Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?”
There can be a wide range of relationships in our lives, from our kids, colleagues, neighbours etc. The only constant can be us. Even though the amount of time and things we do with these relationships varies we can bring the same quality to each. We are trained from young not to do this and give preferential care to our closest relationships. Yet knowing our true nature where we are all one, this selectiveness cannot be natural or bring harmony, as evidenced by all the harm that occurs in families.
Harm not only in our families but in the wider world, man against man, woman against woman and bullying from an early age. This model is not working and if we were a company, humanity would have long ago gone bankrupt.
We are trained to do that in our families, in our communities and in our countries – always look after your own first. It separates so badly and is the reason we can even contemplate war.
We literally can never be truly alone because we are always in relationship with someone, even if it is with the person we say hello to as we walk past.
We are not flying solo on this planet. Everyone and everything is connected!
‘To bring back’ – I get a sense to explore this meaning of the word Relationship more. What am I bringing my relationships back to?
To be able to have consistancy with all our relationships, whether they are with family, friends, work colleagues, people in the street etc etc, is almost unheard of, however Serge Benhayon and all members of his family continually reflect to us how this is possible. It is deeply inspiring and has certainly made me look more deeply at all my relationships and how and why I still choose to treat some differently to others. A continual work in progress.
We align to those we favour, mostly because we get something back that we like and need. And we go into protection around those we are weary of and avoid the reflection, whichever way, as best we can.
So true Gabriele. Are we in a relationship with someone because of our own outcome or because we truly want to evolve and grow? Do we hold people in our mind with a distance because we don´t want to be the love that we are with everyone equally?
Having been a student of Universal Medicine for some years now, I would have to say they have mastered relationships in its true definition – to bring back. Thousands of people through their inspirational relationship with Serge Benhayon, his family and now the wider Universal Medicine community have come back to themselves, after being lost in the ideals and norms of their culture, gender, work, society. Relationships are therefore meant to be a blessing that arises each of us back to the knowing and living of our essence.
We learn to trust one person first and then we can take that to all and not hold humanity to ransom for the past deeds of one, two or three people. And as you so rightly state, that first person has been, for untold many, Serge Benhayon.
Even if we tried to we would not be able to escape relationships – even in a secluded cave we would still have our relationship with self, with the air we breath, with the food we eat, with the hard cold floor we sit on etc etc. Relationships abound, and it is all about what relationships we are willing to invest in and develop – the ones that will grow us or the ones that will keep us capped? And thus we have a relationship with our own evolution too!
No man is an island, they say and that is true, whether that be in a cave or the middle of a shopping centre.
Ha ha I like that picture and it offers something to consider when shopping. Otherwise it would be such an easy time to check out and go on automatic.
Relationships are what grow us as in each relationship we have the reflection from someone else about areas in which we can learn to grow. And likewise we bring qualities to reflect to another for them too to grow. This growth happens if we are open to what is being offered in the relationship in terms of the opportunities, the openness and the cooperation. Remaining open to the growth and the deepening of our understanding is the key factor. Hence any relationship is one that allows us so much more than we realise – so much more than just buying meat off the butcher as Gabrielle mentioned or so much more than just buying vegetables from the green grocer.
Every enconter is a ralationshp with the potential for deepening and expansion, for the benefit of all of us.
To bring back … to come back to who we all are, the oneness we’re all from, it broadens and deepens what relationships are and in fact each person offers us a different aspect of that oneness and in fact no relationship is for those in it alone, for each one reflects something back to the wider whole. Thank you Gabriele for taking our understanding of relationships to a whole other level.
I was wanting to know what happened in 1944 to change the way we view relationships! I will have to google…
Is it possible that after the horrors and atrocities of two world wars, people had lost trust in humanity and sought solace in the idealised and romanticised Hollywood version of love and relationships? Was there more safety in ‘the one’ rather than all of us together?
Oh wow, fascinating insight Gabriele, that gives me food for thought indeed. I think think you are onto something.
Let me know what else comes – this is a fascinating sociological and psychological enquiry into what makes us tick how we choose to tick.
The evil with that Hollywood version is, that it is socially accepted and everyone sees it as normal and actually the most luckiest thing you can experience in form of love and relationship seeking. Expressing to only one person, who we measured as trustworthy, seems to be safe. But what kind of compromise we allow through that limited expression as everything in us literally loves and could never only focus is on only one person. You get celebrated by finding “the one”. Translated: you get congratulated, that you found a box where you can hide.
Hollywood has a lot to answer for is one possible answer to this conundrum; but then, what about the other side of the ledger, the insatiable consumer who asks for more and more? After all, it is a question of supply and demand even if many suppliers have wilfully and irresponsibly created the demand, waved the carrot just long enough until the bait was taken. Turns out that in many instances, the bait is not only addictive but injurious to our health.
Relationships redefined, or more accurately, brought back to the truth. We are always in relationship with someone and something and our every relationship we have contributes to all other things we relate to / have a relationship with.
Yes we move to a relationship and we move from a relationship. Considering relationships in this way has meant I don’t take things for granted any more.
Yes, I like that, not to take things for granted, that every moment counts, that every encounter counts. There is always something to bring and learn.
We are never not in a relationship with life, with ourselves, with each other, with God, with religion, with work, with family, with our lifestyles, with our emotions, with the universe – with absolutely everything. We are in fact always in an energetic relationship with every breath we take, with the space we occupy and the space that occupied us. When we are willing to honor this truth we then understand, deeply so, how everything we do has great meaning and impacts the world we live in and we also understand the responsibility we all hold as to the quality of connection or vibration we bring to our every relationship.
Your words here have the ring of sacredness – beautiful and inspiring to behold.
So beautifully expressed Carola! Even only on a human level we are never alone, as we are always connected to another human being- even a thought connects us to another. There is a great joy that expands in my body reading your very warm and all encompassing words.
When we use the word ‘bring back’ with regards to relationships, it opens up the word and no longer confines it to our immediate relationships with family and friends. To know that we have a relationship with everyone and everything then means that everyone and everything has the potential to bring us back and remind us of who we truly are, a totally different understanding and meaning of the word relationship.
An understanding of ‘relationship’ that is not exclusive to a select few and those we deem ‘special’ in any way opens up space and vast opportunity.
A simple writing that relates to my life and all the connections I experience within it but also alerts me to the movement away from the true origins of the meaning of the word itself. Knowing that ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back, offers something far more than what I have previously interpreted relationship to mean – it opens up a whole new world of deepening, taking more responsibility for and valuing of whoever and whatever I am in relationship with. Reflecting on this meaning as I consider my relationship with myself also offers something very special – something I can choose to ‘bring back’.
And all confirming, as in so many aspects of daily life, that it is never about going anywhere or achieving anything but about returning to our ancient past, to what is all already known by all of us.
We can learn so much about the realities of the world just by conversing with each other and your example Gabriele of your conversation with your taxi driver is a great example of this.
It seems we have made relationships something we want to determine instead of being open to the depth and connection we can have with every single person.
It is as though we go into our relationships with a predestined idea or picture of what they should look like rather than being open to their potential and to what unfolds. And can we really ‘go into’ or ‘enter’ a relationship when we are already in relationship with everyone and everything all of the time?
Yes, exactly, we think we decide to be in a relationship and with whom and what, all the while we are always in relationship with everyone and everything all of the time.
“Have we allowed familiarity to creep in, a certain fatigue and boredom?” Great to read this line today and begin to look at where this may have crept into my relationships and begin to make changes.
Familiarity breeds a certain indifference and non-commitment to the mundane tasks of life that would otherwise support joy and togetherness; ultimately, familiarity leads to resentment.
We can get stuck in the belief that relationships are just between people but the truth is we are constantly in a relationship with everything around us. We can ask ourselves for example what is our relationship with our desk, our car, our dog etc and when we look at it that way it changes our feeling about things.
The seemingly ‘mundane’ is then not mundane any longer and life takes on a whole new meaning and much greater depth.
When I realise that I am in relationship with everyone and everything it makes me realise how important everything is because of the relationship I have with it, even innate objects, we cannot ever stop having relationships, this is what life is all about, my responsibility is, what is the quality that I bring to every one.
The responsibility we bring to every one and every thing is what adds up to the sum total of our movements which then either evolve or devolve us and all of us.
If we were to apply the root meaning of relationship, ‘to bring back’ we would commit to reconnecting to and returning to a more loving relationship with ourselves.
It is in and through relationships that we can grow and evolve hence why they are so important.
Who makes up the rules and regulations of life so that a relationship is defined by whether it is sexual or not? When we narrow life down as we seem to then we narrow down our ability to connect to others, and we as a race of human- beings are a very social pack animal and our health deteriorates when we are separated from each other, this is a fact.
We seek definition, solace and a crutch in the narrowing down and contraction and forego everything else that is available; we do our very best to live in opposition and defiance of our multidimensionality.
That is true, narrowing down the rules of relationship we narrow down our natural ability to connect with others.
If the word relationship means to bring back, does this not imply that through relationships, we bring each other back to who we truly are, in essence? Relationships are what help us to grow, learn and evolve: we’re not designed to do this on our own.
And not only are we not designed to do it on our own, we cannot possibly express everything that God is on our own.
So very true Gabriele, and how often is it forgotten the relationship you have with yourself? This is where it all begins, first a returning back to oneself, and by virtue of that, The All… once you know and live that Truth you cannot but be in relationship with everyone and everything.
I would love it if we brought this kind of consideration and reflection on the use and origin of words back to English lessons, it feels like an essential part of true education.
Corruption starts with the bastardisation of words and before we know it, truth is no longer truth but a personal version of whatever suits.
From what you have shared here Gabriele it is clear that we are in relationship with everyone and everything around us regardless of whether we pay attention to it or not, and that the quality of these relationships will be based on the quality of our interactivity (connection) with these people, objects, environment etc. Do we use these interactions to bring us back to a one unified point of truth or do we use these relationships as ‘comfortable arrangements’ that prevent us from evolving back to the Oneness we have each separated from?
It is the depth of connection and surrender within myself that allows the quality of my relationship with others and with all aspects of life. And that carries through with everything – no matter if I have known someone for one minute or one decade.
It is interesting and lovely that the root of the word relationship is to bring back ‘that do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’? Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’ I agree with what you have shared here, that with our relationships whether romantic, with family, friends, work colleagues, neighbours, community, society and even the relationship with ourselves seem to be way off track from where it should be. This alone has been made super clear to me and many other people from just observing the relationships the Benhayon family have with everyone, showing us exactly what a true relationship is and can be. What I have really felt over the last few days, particularly from attending Sacred Esoteric Healing Level 4 course, is how much it is needed for me to fully claim my relationship with myself and my body first.
Within we build the foundation for our relationships with others, and not the other way around when we might use the number of likes and contacts and invited guests, etc. to gauge the love and affection others apparently have for us.
If we limit the word relationship to an intimate, sexual relationship then we miss out on the beauty that is available to us in all our other relationships.
And, due to this convenient limitation, we are the poorer for it.
Very very true. Love that = relationships need to come back to being One, our Oneness.
Relationships seem to be about two things, to support you to be you, or have an effect to cause you to separate from who you truly are. My best relationships are those where I am loved for who I am, and seen and met in full the essence of the person I am. Other relationships have not been able to meet me in this way, and have in some cases worked very hard to make sure I’m not my true and full self, with instances of abuse, bullying, and jealousy for example. So the meaning of relationship to “bring back” makes perfect sense to me, to support people to come back to who they are.
Relationships offer a steep learning curve and forever new opportunities to support each other to get out of the muck we have buried ourselves in. We tend to hold others at arm’s length, just in case, and thus, we say no to the awareness and to what they are there to bring.
I love that the word ship is here with relation for when we are friends, in relation, we can weather the storms together and sail like a ship on the ocean, a ship that may hold many others. We can also help each other understand what is impeding our advancement and support each other to continually evolve.
That makes me realise that we have a lot of ‘ships’ in our language: friendship, companionship, hardship, workmanship, scholarship and many more, I am sure. Do they all allude to a kind of togetherness I wonder, even when it comes to hardship, for example?
When we feel into the words and study their true origins they are often very different from the bastardised versions we now accept as the truth
And the bastardisation of words leaves us much poorer, across all languages.
Gabriele you show how much we have narrowed words down, lessened them from their true expansive meaning to suit the reduced way of how humanity now lives. Like you said about drinking when someone gives up drinking we understand it to mean alcohol but if we took it in its true context we would understand it to mean that they don’t drink anything…water or any form of liquid. We don’t observe or question the words we use enough, we look with our eyes but we don’t feel with our heart.
Reflecting with honesty on the quality that we are bringing to all our relationships is a really worthwhile thing to do in my opinion, not from a place of looking for problems but appreciating the continual opportunity we have to be more aware of and learn about our quality of expression.
There is so much to learn from every single relationship in our lives, to dismiss some as not as important as others means we are dismissing the golden nuggets of learning, on offer.
We miss out on so much if we only see relationships as being sexual or with just one person. I love the relationships I have with so many amazing people, with God, with self care, with observing etc. there is so much we are in relationships with. When I go to my doctor or to the pharmacy next door, I feel as much joy as they do with seeing each other again…it’s beautiful.
I love the FACT that we are in relationship ALL of the time, even when we imagine we are not.
It’s so true, we live in an ocean of energy, every move and output we have has an effect on the energy just like water ripples, our presence affects everything – even the stars and beyond. Based on that we are in relationship with everything.
‘Bringing back’ our natural connection with God, which then touches and informs all our experiences and interactions… this is true relationship.
This world is so full of blame and vilification. We are too quick to point the finger at another but an all too important aspect of relationship that most miss is the fact that we also need to be looking at and taking responsibility for our own part in why something has happened.
“What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?” This is such a great question because we have all these rules in life that simply are untrue.
Thank you Gabriele a great reminder that we are actually in relationship with everyone we meet during any day, and it is interesting how we still want to be individual when there is so much more we can truly offer another, even if it just a smile or a hello.
Through relationships we will eventually find our way back to where we come from. Without reflecting each other truths and untruths, we are lost. What kind of relationships do you choose- the ones that lift the curtain or the ones, that show you a different way?
What if a simple conversation to a stranger, can change their whole life or lift them up towards truth more than imaginable, by not holding back your connection to the multidimensionality and reflecting it in every move you are making. Even when you talk about the weather for example.
Now that I want to experience, talking about the weather in and with multidimensionality – can we do it in German sometime?
Gabriele, we have a date !
Once you met someone, you instantly have a relationship with that person. What if we are feeding back constantly to every relationship we had with how we are living in the presence? That is huge if you only consider the people in this life, that you´ve met. To make the responsibility even bigger- what if we feed back every moment to any relationship we had not only in this life but in our many past lives in how we live and express now?!
It is interesting how we seem to want to compartmentalise things – making one relationship ‘more important’ than all the many relationships in our life.
The moment we do that we are never in a true sense in a relationship with someone.
I feel we as a society, myself included, have diminished the true meaning of the word relationships and then comes in what you are questioning here Gabriele ‘Have we allowed familiarity to creep in, a certain fatigue and boredom?’ It is all about connecting with each other, everyone we meet, it has nothing to do with if we know someone or not, look them into the eyes and you will see the same essence we are all from and want to go back to.
“what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’?” when I read this question it very much made sense that our relationships are to bring us back, to deepen and ultimately support evolution in each other.
To be able to appreciate what you are sharing Gabrielle that we are in relationship with everything is so true, but we play a game that we are not so we do not have to be responsible for what is truly taking place. To be able to open up and connect with others in this way really does offer a true reflection that we are so much more than what we are lead to believe.
Meaning that you don’t ever meet, alcohol and you? I’m not sure that the word ‘relationship’ feels quite right here for me, but I stand to be corrected. What is the true terminology when we leave something behind for good, to not ever have it in our life again?
Keeping it at several arms’ length? Very distant; in other words, you have left alcohol well and truly behind and it does not enter your world.
I have some gorgeous relationships with people I go to school with, see in my town, customers at work and colleagues, and I learn so much through each of these connections and value the different angles on life each person inspires me with. That said, this is still inconsistent in ALL of my relationships; that I’m open to learning from everyone equally no matter who they are, where I meet them or what circumstances our relationship is based upon… This is something I’d like to change! Thank you for sharing a beautiful blog Gabriele.
There is an eternal inter-connectedness between us all that I feel we cannot dismiss and that all the relationships in our life offer us the potential to learn and evolve back to a mutuality that is innate to us all…
I love this word ‘mutuality’ – there is a quality of equality, collaboration and openness to it that is very inspiring. Thank you, Fiona.
There’s something sacred about that ‘eternal interconnectedness’ too- our relationship with anything never truly dies or disappears- because energy never dies or disappears either. So our relationship with something can only ever be reformed, realigned, reconstellated into a different movement.
‘Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’ In an RE lesson I was supporting this week, the class were looking at Islaam and mosques. The teacher shared how touched he was when travelling abroad to observe the Muslim call to prayer. He shared that in those moments the whole city stopped as one and the feeling of togetherness was palpable. We are wired this way but don’t live this way so when we are reminded of the power of common purpose and a coming together in this purpose we can’t but help take note and feel something magical is happening. What if this magic were actually our normal and not a once in life a lifetime event?
It is an interesting one this isn’t it. That on the whole the majority of us when asked about a relationship presume an intimate relationship with a partner. This is also my experience teaching sexual health and wellbeing education in schools with young people as well; when I mentioned relationship they assume I am taking about a boyfriend and girlfriend or boyfriend and boyfriend or girlfriend and girlfriend … basically a partner and not the relationship they have with themselves, their family, friends, teachers .. everyone in their life. It seems to me when it comes to our understanding of a relationship we have become very narrow minded.
When we realise that we are in relationship all the time – what that truly means – it brings a new slant to the equation, and a sense of responsibility that equalises our interactions. No one interaction is more important than another.
Are you in a relationship? is often met with no if we do not have an intimate partner. Love is another one of those words that has been reduced. When we place those words outside of ourselves they lose their connection to truth…. and when those words are lived, the qualities they are expand.
It is interesting to look at why and how we have reduced the word relationship, when in truth there is nothing we are not in relationship with and not a moment we are not interacting with the space around us.
Beautifully said Victoria, there is not one moment when we are not interacting. And so how important it is to consider our quality of interaction. Is it to inspire and raise the standards ….or bring them down.
We either lift (heal) or subdue (harm) another/others by how we are in relationship, how we walk and talk in conversation. And that happens very fast and can also be turned around very quickly, if that is indeed the choice.
That is what has happened Victoria, that we have reduced things down to a point where we no longer even consider our relationship with the space around us, – yet it is the constant, no matter where we are or what we are doing.
It can be difficult to grasp the idea that we are in a relationship with everyone in our lives. We are brought up to idealise romantic relationships, which leads us to completely disregard all of the learnings we can get from the other people in our lives.
I have come to know this to be true
“Is it a fact that we are in relationship with many, many people and many things – not only every day, but every minute of the day?”
And I actually love being in relationships with everyone I meet whether it is just a passing hello on the street to friends and family they are all the same, as we are all the same.
Yes, we have relationships with everybody around us – even with objects. I have heard this be presented a while back, and I agree – yet I can still catch myself thinking that romantic relationships are of a better grade than any other relationship and that I would have to be in a romantic relationship in order to be in a real relationship. So, I question why that is and what I have just realised is that when I do so, I proactively stop myself from developing meaningful relationships with the people around me – my housemate, my colleagues and everyone else.
We have an image of what a relationship should be and look like and that it is intimate and exclusive, at the expense of the rest of humanity and to the detriment of our mental and physical health. It’s like cutting one’s legs off and trying to walk. It’s like an ant thinking it is alone in its colony, just doing its own thing. It is ridiculous and detrimental to us all and leaves us much poorer than the riches that are available.
When we consider the meaning of the word relationship, “to bring back”, it’s sad that this meaning is not explored when we begin to go to school. If we learn the meaning of words it’s functional. This means this and that means that and if you can recall this or that, then you get high marks. Really all through school (and even though life) we could be provided with the meaning of a word and then go out and observe how we are with that word in this case relationships. This can be brought back to the classroom for everyone to learn more from everyone’s experience. This in itself is a relationship. Observing how we are with something, how it plays out, how we live it and then returning to share with others.
Great point – we learn words as vocabulary to describe something without ever going deeper and exploring the movement that led to the formulation of the word. And the end result? Meaninglessness, lack of purpose and devastation. Too strong? Extreme maybe? Give it a try and feel into a word and then live that and translate it into your movements; it brings richness, fullness and purpose.
Relationships are to bring back as you have shared Gabriele, then it must have close ties to the word religion, which is to return, rebind or reconnect. So true relationship is to return to the love we all share from God and bring it back to everyone universally. Thus having a truly religious experience within every relationship that we are developing, without any expectations just a deepening of the Love we all share.
Absolutely relationships are every where with everything and everyone, and so there is something to learn and appreciate in everything.
I think we have probably moved away from this as it brings less accountability- to realise that we all have an equal responsibility in how we interact with everyone we come across and that expression of love can not be for an isolated few.
It is beautiful that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is to ‘bring back’ – gives an indication that there was something that existed before, and what we bring back through a relationship reveals the nature and the purpose of the relationship we are having.
I love how when we extend the word relationship from just our romantic partners everyone we then met is as important as those we live with etc. So everyone and every moment becomes significant.
Every moment and every encounter counts, no exception and no off switch. Forever learning, deepening and growing awareness.
I loved what you shared Gabriele especially these words” Is it a fact that we are in relationship with many, many people and many things – not only every day, but every minute of the day? ” and the quality with which we relate defines our religion.
It’s interesting how the word ‘relationship’ like many other words has been stripped of its true meaning. We even say now someone is ‘in a relationship’ like they only have that one relationship in life. Yet we have so many with all sorts of people, friends, acquaintances, the person on the check out you see regularly and they are all relationships . Great blog Gabriele
A bit like the word ‘drinking’ that seems to not ever apply to drinking water, tea or juice these days; the sheer mention of it seems to commonly suggest that we drink alcohol and not include anything that does not contain alcohol.
Considering we live in a soup of energy and that everything we do affects everyone else how arrogant are we that we think we can be a certain way or do something and it is in isolation to the all that we live in.
‘…all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’ If people lived this there’d be no wars – wars make no sense at all when we come from the truth we are all one.
It’s wonderful to approach everyone with a fresh connection – usually their eyes light up and it is amazing what conversations ensue.
We have a responsibility to bring love to all our relationships, and when we follow this simple equation set out by God, to be love, life becomes a joy not a chore.
Beautifully said chanly88 Life becomes lighter, more enjoyable and we feel our interconnectedness and responsibility to each other – our ability to respond from the love and truth that we innately are.
It is curious why the word relationship was re-defined and narrowed to mean your spouse. Perhaps 1944, being at the end of a horrific world war, marked a time when we were more separated by nationalism, culture, and clinging to our loved ones.
Good point, it stopped me in my tracks as well. After the devastation and despair of two World Wars, there must have been a sense of deep mistrust if not hostility towards the world at large, the ‘enemy’, the stranger, the unknown and people sought refuge in one another, in one other, in the one and only at the exclusion of humanity at large and brotherhood.
This dissection of the misuse of words in our everyday language offers great opportunity for looking beyond words to the truth of our connections.
To be in relationship with anything means to open ourselves up to be able to receive the other. Often we think of it as having to do something but it is more about being open to receive another. That way we do not impose on another but rather allow them to be who they are as we allow ourselves to be who we are.
Often when we change a meaning of a word it is for our own convenience and with relationship this feels very much the case. When we change the meaning and make it only about our intimate relationships we only work on that one, in the best scenario that is, and are not aware of the importance of working on all our relationships in life. Because all our relationships with people can bring us so much. When we bring this back into our life we will never be bored or annoyed with someone, without perfection, because we know we can learn together.
When we are ‘bored or annoyed’ with another, we have bought into the consciousness of not being enough and we cement each others imagined deficits and faults. In doing so, we play right into the hands of the astral forces and act in opposition to divinity and our true source.
Brilliant Garbiele and Lieke. I notice when I am ‘bored or annoyed’ I feel completely drained afterwards because my energy gets depleted and your comments confirms why this happens.
I agree regarding the exactness of this date ‘I found that before 1944 this had not been the case and it made me wonder how they got to the exactness of that date?’ It would be interesting to know who said this and why such a specific date was given to say this is when we started making relationships about partners! And if so what had caused this change that we went from feeling relationship was a word described with everyone to then it only being about having a partner. The truth is relationships are with everyone and not just solely about having a partner, this is something we need to come back to.
It’s beautiful to read about your community and the relationships you have, our lives are so rich when we bring all of ourselves to all our relationships.
True relationships develop and build such a strength, for on each occasion we feel the foundation that is old. So it feels natural and when we honour that feeling we are showered with appreciation. then as we grow others will see the way true relationships work as it is brotherhood that will cement our evolution.
Your comment leads to a question: What kind of energies are we actually seeking, constellating and staying in relationship with?
For me the “bring back” also means, relationships are bringing myself back to the truth that I am, through another ones reflection with their movements of life. Every relationship we are in, even writing an email to someone, does either reflect me and my divinity or a lesser version of it. It is a constant give and take through reflection, what a waste to only focus on one person and loose so many possibilities to grow through everyone we have contact with.
I love this ‘I also learnt that the word ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back.’ So bringing it back to relationships .. true relationships and making it about people and true love in ALL our relationships ✨
It is extremely important to remember, to be reminded, that we are indeed in relationship with everything and everyone around us. This never stops whether we are conscious of it or not.
This is so true, although I had not appreciated the full significance of this until it was introduced to me by Serge Benhayon, and then it immediately made complete sense.
Yes indeed … all I had before meeting Serge Benhayon was a fabrication of beliefs and experiences that were anything but this.
We have narrowed the word relationship down to such a point that we do not consider ourselves in a relationship unless it is romantic or sexual, and yet we are in a relationship with everything and everyone constantly. It shows the force of separation and the illusion we live under.
You remind us that relationship is not only about people but also with things and energies and that we always have a choice as to our level and kind of engagement; it might well be about cutting an energy that is coming through someone, for example.
It is interesting how the word relationship has become limited ‘…to an intimate, romantic or sexual relationship…’ where as the true meaning of the word is much more inclusive, uniting and captures the responsibility we all have with each other and everything around us. So, it makes sense to me, why we tend to reduce the meaning of ‘relationship’, to avoid taking responsibility and to avoid being in true relationship with ourselves, each other and everything around us.
I love how you have set the record straight about the word ‘relationship’. It’s true that to define it simply in the romantic variety is very limiting. We are in relationship with everyone we meet, including the person at the supermarket checkout, work colleagues, family, friends and partner.
Could it be that we have bastardised the word relationship because if we truly live it we will connect back to our origins, to where we are from and have to give up this human life which we have created.
This brings purpose back to every relationship we have, bringing us back to ourselves the one relationship we all share.
Indeed Victoria, you can bring it back to that one relationship we have with ourselves, our inner most that is the gateway to the universe through which we are all connected and in continuous relationship with.
It is worth pondering what exactly our relationships bring us back to. They will always bring us back to something, be it a hurt, a lie, the Truth or a reminder of who we are.
I work in a sexual health service for young people so a lot of the time I am talking with people about relationship and mostly make the point that we are in relationships with everyone all the time and that the most important relationship is the one we have with ourselves. It is great to have this discussion and explore more about relationships and what this means to us.
I wonder if we have brought the focus back to the intimate relationships as a way to avoid the responsibility we all have in all our relationships and a way to live in protection and not open up and be transparent with everyone.
Great point MW, I feel when we reduce the meaning of the word relationship, it is then easy to exclude everyone else and create separation. What happens next is an open invitation for hurts and protection to grow, instead of love, openness and truth.
It is interesting how we seem to have generally isolated the word relationship or confined it to referring to a romantic/ sexual relationship rather than appreciating how we are in relationship with everyone all of the time – we may have different kinds of relationship, intimacy and closeness with specific people naturally but it doesn’t mean that we aren’t in relationship with many others as well…
I do fully agree with you Fiona, while people may think otherwise, we are in many relationships, with all people in the world, but too with living life in this world, with the objects we own or have in our surroundings, with nature and so on. And to me these all can be pretty intimate as can be deeply felt in my body. So yes, to me the word relationship has been deeply bastardised as it is so much more than only that one special intimate relationship people have made of it.
It simply is an avoidance of responsibility to measure down relationship to only one person or a close circle of friends and family. Because if it is not the person people share their bed with, they think it is not as important to treat that person with the same respect and love, as they would do with the one they do share the bed with. For me it is interesting to look at every kind of relationship someone has to truly feel how that person relates in life. You cannot be all of you with someone, and less with another. If only one area of relationship is not cared for and measured/ reduced, it will affect and lessen the quality of the other relationships.
We are all one starts with us claiming this unity and thus we go out into this world living it.
‘…all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’ Such a powerful statement. Yes, living this truth in our relationships restores harmony.
Great to consider that we are having relationships all the time with everyone we meet and perhaps if we viewed it in this way and understood this more we would value and respect those moments of meeting and connecting with each other more.
Every moment can thus be seen and appreciated as an opportunity for expansion, more love and responsibility – one life in other words, as coined by Serge Benhayon, and no out-moments. We might consider this arduous initially and driven by the mind until the enrichment and never-ending opportunities can be felt and appreciated.
So true Andrew. It makes me wonder how many opportunities do we miss out on if we do not see every interacation with another as a potential ‘relationship’.
Lately I have been deepening my understanding that I am in relationship with everyone and everything and that there is nothing that I am not in a relationship with. I might focus more on one thing over another but the relationship is still there. A great example of this for me is my relationship with the stars/universe, as sometimes I am very aware of them and other times not so aware.
Knowing the root meaning to a word, such as this one, brings purpose not only to the word but what that means for us when we are in relationship (which is constantly all the time). There is a purpose for the way I am in relationship not only for myself but for the other person.
And that is especially perrtinent when we have the movement of being in relationship first and then the word to follow rather than trying to make it up as we go.
Returning to truth in all relationships simply expands our relationship even when truth is rejected. Truth never disappears, fades away, imposes or hides, because truth is constantly present and accessible to us all.
We have reduced and keep reducing the meaning of words, but I find when I stop and feel the word, the sense of what it means deepens as too does my understanding of what it means. Relationship is just one of them, and in coming to this fuller, truer understanding of what it means, my life has become so deeply enriched as I feel myself to be in relationship with everyone. Same with intimacy – once reduced to physical intimacy but now I understand it and know it to be something so much more than that, encompassing every relationship, not just the physical intimacy I enjoy with my husband.
From understanding what the word relationship means has supported me hugely in life. I understand that we are in constant relationship with everything and everyone, even when I am alone, I am in relationship with the whole of humanity. For example, when we lock ourselves in a room alone or choose to be in isolation away from people, this may leads us to think that we are alone but when we study and understand the science of energy, we cannot escape the fact that we are constantly in relationship with ourselves, with our surroundings, with the whole of humanity and with God. Our relationship with humanity goes far beyond what our eyes can see, and when we understand this and embrace the fact that we are in constant relationship with humanity no matter where we are, I feel there is no where we can hide, to escape or avoid brotherhood.
I love the insight that we are not ever alone, even if we lock ourselves inside a room by ourselves – by way of how humanity is constellated to be, we are always in relationship with everyone; the only question is: what kind of relationship is it and what is our input?
When I surrender to the fact that every connection we have with someone or something is a relationship, I realise how deep and relevant is all what we share in them.
What is profound is that we have a relationship always, but we have limited our view to just a few or some one.. A shame really, as there is so much more to our relationships then the above said; being it a relationship with one person, sexual or intimate. Rather we can allow ourselves to feel what relationship is and how much we can expand them in all ways, not just for a select few.
Awesome thought..
In my view we all are related and thus in a relationship. All of us are interconnected souls. We feel pain and sorrow for people affected by trauma,be it at any part of the world. Similar we feel delighted also for achievement of others even if he / she may not be directly known or connected to us.
Nature is the binding factor amongst all.. we all are in a relationship with each other.
Would it be true to say that nature is a reflection for us and that we are connected by the fact that our souls are not individual but are one Soul?
The truth is we are never not in relationship with everyone and everything around us, so reserving the word relationship to mean only intimate relationships is a complete misrepresentation of what the word relationship means.
It is an illusion that if we are in a partner relationship then we can shut out relationships with others and vice versa, as the truth is there is only one relationship and however we are with ourselves we have the ability to be the same with everyone else. If we hold back our quality with any one relationship all our relationships will too be compromised.
Beautifully expressed Gabriele thank you, for me your blog puts a deeper meaning to the casual relationships I have with people “all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?”
I like your history lesson on when the meaning of relationship changed to mean solely intimate experiences. It really diminishes our every moment to moment experiences and connections with people reducing them to being less when in truth they are not.
The timing of the re-definition of the word ‘relationship’ to be narrowed down to intimate ones is interesting; was it an unconscious giving up on the world with its wars and horrors and the turning to another for solace and the promise of a safe heaven? And what did we make of these intimate relationships? Have they turned the tide of abuse and depravity around or have we added more of the same to a world that is already groaning under the putrid load?
I can’t help but feel that the meaning of relationship “referre”, to bring back, means to bring back to Soul, to return to all we have left behind, to restore ourselves and each other to the love we are. Surely there is no truer relationship than one that brings us back to Soul.
I love getting back to the true meaning of words. So many have been bastardized down the years. Referre from the Latin meaning to bring back. Love it. We have a relationship not only with people and nature too, but with the things that we live with and the activities we take part in. Do we value all of our ‘relationships’?
Nudging words away from their True meaning has become a sport that is age old. Redeveloping our understanding of language and how we can express the Truth in words should be taught in our schools at a young age. Then taken home to be shared with the parents so this level of abuse can start to change from the bottom up or is it the inside out?
It’s gotta be whichever way we look me feels, whether that is from inside out or from the bottom up. The only one that wouldn’t work is from the top down as we have tried that for too long and it has never worked.
For many years as a single woman, I felt like I was missing out as I was not ‘in a relationship’. But as your blog aptly shows, we are in relationships everywhere! Our housemates, friends, work colleagues, family, butchers, our local fruit and vegetable marketers….and we can learn so much from them.
It’s a narrow idea isn’t it that only a romantic pairing is a relationship when we are actually in relationship to everyone and everything, and also in a relationship with ourselves.
All our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one? Absolutely Gabriele.
Sharing with us that relationships are based on energy not the amount of time spent.. Neither based on how close or distant. So did we spend our relationships building wisely? Great question to ponder on.
A great reminder of what relationships are – we have a relationship with absolutely everything, including ourselves, and it is all deserving of the same honour and commitment.
A brilliant sharing offering the key to life and the analagy of our body as our vehicle we are driving in life. The awareness and understanding of energy and the effects it has if we take it on is very clear to see as is the difference of not absorbing everything in the pool of energy and life.
I have a great relationship with someone who allows me to park on their drive when I fly out from Heathrow. We have 10 minute chats – usually about spirituality – on the journey to the airport itself. We both look forward to this connection a few times a year now. No romance or sexuality involved, just a growing friendship and connection as he asks me lots of questions about my religion The Way of the Livingness – and I learn more about his Bahai faith too.
“What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?” Yes. The question ‘are you in a relationship?’ implies a romantic connection. My new response will be ‘Yes with everyone I meet’.
Relating in a relationship with an open heart so we can respond to what ever is expressed by another and not go into a reaction is a possible way to return or bring back the True Love from our forever opening Inner-Heart.
This blog is such a gorgeous appreciation that we are all part of one whole family – the universe and that each and every person we connect to has the potential to develop a relationship with us. Thank you for writing with such an open view for us all to appreciate.
In the past I would have described a good relationship as being fun, loving, caring, honest etc. Back then I would have equated love to being a ‘good’ feeling that always left me happy or even giddy and excited. Now I know that love is none of these things, real love can be confronting as we must be willing to see everything that gets in its way.
Love requires commitment and the willingness to go deeper, it’s not a Hollywood fable or a fairy tale.
Often we see the difficult relationships as a pain or a hassle but in actual fact, they are offering us a beautiful reflection for us to learn from. Over the years I have come to understand the importance of our relationships and feel blessed.
Absolutely agree there is only one relationship. How we are with anyone is how we are with everyone. There is no degradation in relationships. So if I have lived a deep relationship with someone close, this is the same quality I will bring to everyone and if I hold back, all my relationships would suffer as they are all expressed less.
I can feel the absolute truth of this and it is huge because it also means that those relationships that are not so harmonious equally impact those that we hold dear.
Reading that the “root meaning of the word relationship is to bring back” makes so much sense. To me relationship is about connection with another and this is what we are bringing back, a connection that is innately part of us but in a world that encourages individualism true connections are very hard to find. To know that we are always in relationship with everyone and everything in this Universe brings the power of relationships back into our hands and into our hearts.
Why have relationships scared me so much in my life? Is it because if I get too close to a person, I will feel the fact that I am one with everyone but I have chosen to separate from that oneness?
I have been feeling the devastation of this choice. It is something I have avoided for many lives. By feeling this, I am again feeling this connection that I have always had.
It would be amazing if the very word ‘relationship’ in its meaning is an offer to return to the understanding that we are all one.
How ridiculous are we to have gotten to a point where a relationship is sexual and/or intimate in nature. Just like you Gabriele I can recount so many relationships I have every day from the moment I wake up with my husband and daughter, meeting people on my morning walk, being at work, going to get my groceries to taking the dog for a grooming session. I love knowing that I am in relationship with others all of the time.
Making relationship exclusive to the one and only or a chosen few, be it the bloodline or similar, cements and further inculcates individuality at the expense of the all we are a part of.
“….all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?” How different the world would be if we were all to embrace this statement.
‘as fas as the eye can see’… every time I read this in the title of this article, I have a visual sense of the endlessness of relationship… it is something we are always in, from the multitude of interactions we have in every day to the quiet moments with ourselves and our relationship with life… every breath is a relationship.
… and every out breath a sharing of who we are with the world.
Awesome reminder that relationships are all about reminding us of the love we are.
I know when I am having an off moment if I connect with another in their eyes I can be reminded of the divinity we are all from.
Yes, that has been my experience as well.
When I feel into the word relationship now, it has a totally different meaning to some 9 or so years ago where I was stuck like so many, in it only being about a relationship between two others in a sexual/intimate sense. Now since I have built a solid and loving relationship with myself (which was also not heard of back in the day) I have more understanding around the word and what it truly is asking of us when we are in relationships with others. Simply put, how I am with myself is how I am with all others and my relationship with God, they are all equally one and the same.
I feel inspired by the fact that the ‘coming back’ bit in the true meaning of relationships is not only the returning to myself in full and truth, but also the re-instating of true community and connection between each other, whether we have known someone for years or just met them in passing in our days.
We are being asked to go further than our eyes can see in our relationships. To not stand still and presume, but to go further and feel – every single time we meet a person again. It is how much we are willing to see all aspects within our relationships that potentially can grow us more intimate and truthfull.
So True Danna, and may I add, when we take a moment to Truly connect with another’s eyes it is like opening a window to our Souls?
I agree Greg it is a window to our Souls, when we truly connect with another’s eye.
‘Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’ Yes absolutely this is the truth however I feel we have a way to go before we truly get here.
A beautiful reflection of relationships to bring us back to who we are the love and oneness of us all . this brings a real gift to the science of relationships their importance and life.
Whatever or whomever we have a relationship with we are always being given an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and grow. It is through the reflection of every relationship, whether that is with alcohol, the tv, the person who enters through the shop door and smiles, our family or our partner that we are offered a gift, a gift of evolution.
‘Relationships as far as the eye can see’… a beautiful title that is a beautiful invitation to recognise and appreciate all the amazing opportunities in our every days to be in relationships with others, learning every step of the way.
Connection and Love in relationships brings a beautiful surrender to a natural intimacy that is there for everyone, even the person you have just met.
Even and especially to the person we have just met as in truth, there is no difference; a certain familiarity might have crept in, images and anticipation even, but every moment is in truth another moment and another opportunity to deepen and evolve.
It really is about the connection and love we bring to relationships when we meet people, there is nothing else that is required.
I also had the intimate relationship version of the word relationships as the norm until Serge Benhayon started to expand this definition to a much truer version. This meant that I now realised that every interaction is a relationship and needs to be treated with the same care and level of connection. This has really helped to break down the idea that some people are more worthy of your love and the inequality of how we are with different people.
Very cool… bringing the equal value of all our interactions to the fore, yes please.
‘Is it a fact that we are in relationship with many, many people and many things – not only every day, but every minute of the day?’ It is a fact that I can feel whether I am with people or not. I can feel other car drivers on the road and get a flavour for where they are at with how they drive – I have no doubt the same is true for them of me whether it’s conscious or not it’s there. And when I think I’m not with people in my house I am, my neighbours aren’t more than 15 foot away or in the next room but in their house. The only time I and I’m sure other people like to pretend we are not in relationship is to lie to ourselves and say what I do and how I am doesn’t matter, no-one’s being affected!
Wonder why we limit a word like relationship down to refer to only a one on one relationship when indeed it is a “fact that deep down we know that, ….. all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one.” By beginning to live in this way we can develop our understanding and respect with one another. And with that as our foundation it’s possible we may even feel the true equality and brotherhood we can have with everyone and isn’t that what we all want?
“And how supportive are then our relationships?” Such a great question because we often only think of the relationship with our close ones to give and answer to this but if we consider our relationship with every single person we meet how supportive are these relationships and how this could influence how we feel every thing in life.
‘What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?’ Interesting as I know I subscribed to this belief as well. Life can become more beautiful and enriching when we include everyone we interact with as a relationship as it allows the space for a deeper and more true connections with everyone, no matter what walk of life they are from.
Relationships are about a return… to truth…. to love…. to who we are! how awesome is that!
Relationships are with everyone and thing we know, even a few that we do not know, and who will take over if we do not stay connected.
Really very cool to ponder this meaning, the root meaning of relationships. To bring back, they can awaken the truth within us if we are open to that. I will reflect on this in terms of how I am with other people and experiences in my life.
In seeing and acknowledging you these people had recognised that something they were responding to in themselves; the power of reflection in service.
That’s gorgeous Susan. It reminds me of those times when I observe a tender moment between two people (in all manner of relationship) and that I get the blessing of that tender moment too. We are all affected by all around us and in this awareness know that we are a part of this and affect all others in our turn too.
If I am truly observing, the relationship that I have with everything in my life is a great reflection for me to learn everything that I need to know.
Our lives are constantly reflecting back to us what we need to know and work on.
Without relationships our evolution would stop.
Yes, evolution in a cave or on a remote mountain top is an illusion; we need to master life.
‘all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one’ – A brilliant statement – one that cannot keep us trapped in the illusion of individualism and separation.
Just considering this fact for a moment, ‘that we are all one’, makes the waywardness of our current trajectory so clear and therefore our purpose too.
Yes a very simple statement that expresses the truth we are all one.
There feels to be a real and true purpose to developing relationships for everyone’s learning and growth in life. We have so much opportunity to move forwards constantly if we accept the challenge of being more open and honest, and the benefits spill into all areas of our lives, not simply that one relationship we may be dealing with.
To be alive is to be in relationship for the very reason you have pointed out Gabriele, and that is because we are all one.
I love that relationships are about coming back to the truth that we are all one, this is so beautiful as no-one is left out…we are all here to evolve together.
Every interaction we have with someone, whether it is someone dear to us or the cashier at the supermarket, it is a relationship and to treat everyone with the same quality of love, care respect is a marvellous aspiration to live by.
Makes sense that the word relationship means ‘to bring back’ as every time I connect with another I get a sense of coming back, deepening within and feeling one with the other.
“Is it a fact that we are in relationship with many, many people and many things – not only every day, but every minute of the day?” It is indeed Gabriele. If we were to really take this on board and treat every relationship we have with everyone we meet equally, it would change so much about the world we live in.
truly gorgeous and revealing writing Gabriele. The more I have deepened my relationship with me the more open I have become to others, not only those I am intimately linked with. This is bringing such a richness to life as the potential in each interaction for deep connection is exponentially amplified. The more we do this the more we learn, the more we find we are all the same.
When we put more importance in certain relationships than others it becomes a protection to truly be ourselves with the entire world—so we become selective and unfair towards who we give more of our love and who less. This is seen to be normal in life but the truth is it is a huge holding back of our own love because of the control of this ideal.
I love what you share here, all coming back to the one. Bringing back to the one from who we are all from.
Learning from your blog, the meaning of the word ‘relationship’ makes you realise the importance and purpose of why we have relationships…. and that is to bring back harmony and equality between one another, between people, between countries, between cultures, races and ethnic groups. Most importantly it begins with ‘bringing back’ that innermost connection we can have with ourselves first, that then is the foundation for relationships with each other.
Relationships are ubiquitous, the very fibres of society, and they include everything from God to other people to a favourite brand or pop star.
What I really enjoy about relationships these days is the freshness and opportunity that I see they offer, from the teeniest of one-off interactions to our every day living together relationships. This is about not being fixed with how things are and therefore how they will turn out in the future… every moment is a fresh one if we are open to this… simple really.
Agree Matilda, and there is always an opportunity to learn some thing from any interaction we have if we are open to the reflection.
Relationships never truly end though they may change form and activity, hence our forever responsibility to deepen with all.
So could it be that religion and relationship belong in the same boat and this is like many other words that have been bastardised to keep us from living in our True power? Most of us have had no idea how to Truly express. So we would always come up with superlatives, slang, swearing or cursing, which would never be of service to anyone, and this has become our normal way of existing and expressing. When the Truth in words is presented to us we all should return to True religion and relationships so we can all relearn True expression!
“all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one” – this is a very profound revelation for us all to sit with. In our encounters with relationships, in their unavoidable nature, lies the very fact that we are complete in all our fullness but yet to learn the full expression of this fullness, hence the ‘need’ for others around us to reflect to us the very things we need to work on in expression, which then allows us to realise that we are indeed all one.
We can’t do it alone is what it boils down to. Only in brotherhood do we all get there.
“What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?” – this is a great question to ask and leads to us realizing that we have relationships with everyone and anyone that we meet and have even the shortest encounter with. And in my experience it is through relationships that we are often faced with challenges or inspirations and hence it is our portal for growth in so many ways!
This is a super cool way to approach life and all our interactions with everyone and everything… endless opportunities to learn and grow.
I feel like I am reading this with fresh eyes Gabriele. Perhaps, to ensure we can protect ourselves from getting hurt we ‘manage’ the relationships we have, therefore we intentionally keep the relationships reduced to a minimum. Blaming the definition of a word as opposed to considering it is a choice and a protection suits us.
‘Managing our relationships’ and orchestrating hw close our otherwise we allow ourselves to be and ever ready to retreat – that makes relationship sound more like a war zone than the love they could otherwise be. Surely, there is something wrong here?
It seems to me that what you are saying Gabriele is that by being one with all, we in fact have relationships with all.
We are in relationship with everyone and everything, therefore being one with the all.
When we are truly open and allow ourselves to connect with people, magic happens.
Understanding true relationship means redefining all of those elements that we consider it to be to a point that includes everything not just something.
I love the meaning of relationship – to bring back. I find when I am feeling off, just speaking with people brings me back. I remember why I am here, to be loving and reflect divinity, and that is not to indulge in whatever issue I have cooked up.
Love your expression Fiona, we can get so caught up in what we have cooked up, and so our relationships with people around us is what we can ‘use’ as an anchor to bring ourselves back – what a blessing to have this to support us, and also what a blessing to see relationships and people as a positive as opposed to so much we hear of relationships being burdensome.
I have just noticed how our relationships relate to every aspect of our day not just people. Bringing back the same quality to everyone and everything brings the true meaning to this word.
“…‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back…” This is reassuring, as it comfirms to me how it is never too late to ‘bring back’ or restore love into any relationship.
How true – we may sometimes think it’s a ‘lost cause’ but truth is, it is never too late to restore love into any relationship.
You raise the issue Gabrielle of holding all of our relationships equally as there can be such a richness found if we bring all of ourselves to all our interactions.
These days, I have had so many exchanges that feel truly amazing. I bought some shoes the other day and the lady in the shop and I really opened up about our home life, balancing being a woman and being a mother, plus the patterns we go into with our husbands. In this interaction, I was able to feel how much life has to offer if you open your heart to all relationships.
That is a great example that true connection is always available if we so choose it. I went to a panel beater’s the other day and the owners confirmed this; they told me that it was not the jobs that mattered so much, it were the people who walk through the door.
It is amazing to hear what is there when you sit back and truly listen to people. We can walk around and make it seem as though the world isn’t communicating with us and yet when we truly stop and listen the whole world is always communicating to us in all manner of ways. It’s one of the truest blessings, to actually have and allow the space for people to open up and communicate. As I’ve said it’s not that we aren’t saying or communicating to each other it’s more we don’t truly listen and allow each other to communicate.
“all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?” Beautiful Gabrielle i love the simplicity and knowing of the true importance and purpose of relationships.
‘If I can just push on and get this important thing done’ ‘this person doesn’t interest me but the next one is my darling” – I could go on with examples of how we consistently attempt to overcome and ignore the fact that we are equally connected to everything and everyone. Your words here Gabriele help me to see that we’re here to be lovers for all, not literally but with our whole heart opening. Every moment matters.
“Is it a fact that we are in relationship with many, many people and many things – not only every day, but every minute of the day?” There is so much to appreciate in all of the relationships we have. Some may only be brief but all can teach us alot about life and how we live it.
When we say I’m only in relationship with my husband/partner and make it exclusive in that way, we are missing so much in our other relationships that we call interactions or friendships or whatever, because we are not bringing that love that we are equally to everyone, then we all miss out.
We live relationships at all times, so the quality we choose to move in will eventually have an effect on everyone around us.
Yes we do ” live in relationships all of the time”, it never stops, the depth and quality we move in will effect everyone and everything.
I know I have spent a fair amount of energy looking for or avoiding relationship, only to discover the truest deepest relationship is always with me it’s the relationship I have with myself, there is no looking or avoiding this innate truth.
Could it be that when we are in True relationship with our body, we feel the Sacredness, Love, Joy, Stillness and Harmony that we have all felt at different parts of our lives and, this would be become Fully who we are once all are lived simultaneously?
‘as to our relationships with people, what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’?’ – My immediate feeling is that I am hearing truth, yet what I see in society and what I myself have lived most of my life is the opposite, to keep people at a safe distance.
We have made relationships about something exclusive and far from what it in truth means.
The fact that we are always in a relationship with someone or something is something to truly be aware of in our day to day living, it is a reminder that everything we contribute, i.e. every choice we make and even every thought we play with, always affects the whole.
I love the simplicity and detail of this… every move we make is in relationship with someone or something
There is no opposite to relationship as there is no state of being or place in the entire universe that is not in relationship with everything; everything and everyone is made in relationship with each other. So how can we actually have relationship problems?
You are right; because we are always in relationship and never not, there is no room for relationship problems. And yet, many people will say they are very real and certainly painful – are these relationship problems then founded on how we think, feel about and relate to ourselves in the first instance?
There seems to be an underlying resistance to be in the one universal relationship we cannot escape but obviously pretend we could.
No one relationship is more important than the other. And no one relationship is separate from another. We are the common denominator and that denominator doesn’t change.
Oh what a good way to look at it – for those who like logic, this is a great way to simplify it!
Relating with words that are True is so simple and super important to developing any True Relationship!
I love the title of your blog Gabriele for through it I can feel the grandness of life and the richness relationships bring.
I love this word “relationship”. Honestly for me the feeling is it is everything, the beginning, the end and everything in between.
Yes, Adele. For me, life is without purpose if it doesn’t include others! Work is purposeless if it isn’t about relationships, family life is stale if it isn’t about deepening our love and connection. If we fail to realise that relationships and love are at the heart of everything we do, then we create a society that is merely about function and where is the joy and expansion in that?
How are we ever going to be united as a race if we have the very definition of relationship completely wrong?
And could that be the reason we keep fighting, not only with endless wars between or within countries but in our homes and even with ourselves?
We all crave true relationships – yet we have settled with the common and bastardised version.
Yes, we all crave true relationships! Even the extreme abusive relationships to some are better than something less? But what could be less, to accept abuse?
Understanding that we have a relationship with everything brings a deeper responsibility, as we then need to consider our part in it all.
Exquisite wisdom in this blog that offers every one of us a way of living that transforms our connections with whomever we encounter each day.
Relationship is returning to the deep Love of the Soul and should be sought at every opportunity!
If we are open and willing we can have a very deep and meaningful relationship with loads of people in our life whether that be our butcher, mechanic, neighbour, and/or the woman at the check out counter in Woolworths etc. We just need to connect with whoever is with us, open our heart and embrace in full the moment/s we have with them
So true Mary-Louise, and people everywhere are craving for this connection and intimacy with another.
Yes agree Anna that is why we need to always be offering connection no matter where we are and who we are with. It is our responsibility to never have an ‘off’ moment.We cannot deem one person is more worthy then another. A wise woman once said to me that she treats every-one as if God was in front of her.
Mastering being in true relationship with one another means mastering life.
mmmm…no wonder I have not mastered life!!!
Could it be you have mastered many parts with some to go?
Some parts to go … hmm, I like that.especially when ‘some parts’ can create the impression of being ‘many parts’ at times.
So true Gabriele, we often feel we are in control of the whole when it is simply one part or a few but never the whole.
As I read this I could feel how by using the word relationship as being only that of the relationship we have with our significant other and immediate family as to how this separates us from all others in the world. It allows for the curtness, disregard and dismissivenes that is put upon others outside of our families. A way of being that will then also creep into our families, for something lived cannot be segregated to separate parts of our life. It is a part of everything we do. This makes the true meaning of relationship all that more special, as it represents the possibility for us all to ‘bring back’ true connection in our interactions with all others.
The more intimate we are in relationship with ourselves the more intimate and meaningful will be our relationships with everyone and everything in life.
Very true after all how can we truly be intimate with another and show our all if we 1st are not willing to or have not done it with ourselves. The quality of relationships with others can then deepen exponentially the more we are with ourselves. But the moment we focus solely on another we lose that with ourselves, as the priority and so the depth of intimacy is no longer there.
I love the re-claiming of the true definition of intimacy and its transformative depth and delicacy.
I love the simplicity in your last question, Gabrielle, inviting us to consider the possibility that we are all one.
Something we fight very hard and determinedly but that remains the fact that it is, no matter our excuses and adverse movements.
Yes taking individuality out of the way.
Deepening all our relationships, being real and open, vulnerable and transparent, develops a beautiful intimacy, erases protection and helps to heal our hurts.
It is fascinating to go back and understand what words originally meant and how the meaning has changed from their original impulse Gabriele. It exposes how the word ‘relationship’ is not meant to be just between two special people excluding others but is inclusive of everyone to value and cherish our relationships with any other person. When we live like this, it flows energetically into all relationships in life and our lives become richer as a result.
Do we narrow the focus of the meaning of relationship to that of sexually intimate partner so that we do not have to feel the responsibility we have to bring all of us to everyone we meet?
I love the title of this blog ‘relationships as far as the eye can see’ And yet without awareness we often fail to see the richness that life offers. We can instead live blinkered lives trapped by beliefs of how things should be. I’m reminded of the many ‘single’ women who feel empty and a failure because they’re not in a relationship, and often live on their own. This article blows this concept right out the water and says ‘Hey wake, up look what’s out there..a world of relationships’
We have readily forgotten that our primary relationship is with ourselves and this is what will affect all others.
“And how supportive are then our relationships? And if they are not, what is our responsibility here?” When we bring life back to our responsibility first and foremost, it will naturally transform the quality of all relationships, making them mutally supportive, honest and joyful.
In fact, even before we are born we are in relationship with our mother and the moment we are born we start our relationship with the world.
“… the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’? Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?…” Yes, agree, and its about equality between All of Us.
Indeed they are Susan – and the choice to activate that in our lives, is ours.
It is interesting how we have made relationships exclusive and restricted rather than being encompassing and expansive. How can we even consider that we can be in a relationship with one person without being in a relationship with all other people.
When we contain a word to only one meaning, we miss out on the bigger picture.
“What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?” Great question I think that society has made things that way, and in that we miss out on the beauty in appreciating all relationships we have.
I love that the true meaning of relationship is ‘to bring back’, it offers a great sense of purpose in every relationship we have, to support each other to return to the divinity we innately are.
That is such an interesting question Gabriel, what are we bringing ourselves back to? I am aware how in this life I have lost contact with myself, my true core and source, and in choosing this for imagined safety I have lost true contact with others. Bringing myself back to that endless source of Love and Light that is forever there for me to come back to opens me up to the experience the also endless deepening of true relations with everyone around me.
“I have a wonderful relationship with my butcher up the road, one that is built on trust and my love and respect for his amazing dexterity, the awesome service, his skills and forever willingness to engage and explain and advise” – What’s crazy is that when we don’t have a partner or our own family, so many people entertain thoughts that their ‘unlovable’, society is against them, they have no worth, they are destined to be alone etc. etc. etc. – there are thousands of ways we beat ourselves up. But how can we claim that we are not worthy of love, when we have the opportunity to be in relationship with everyone, and have incredible connections with our butchers, colleagues, people on the street, teachers, and so forth?
Relationships is what connects us and get to know each other, and, as you say, we are forever in relationships. So why not use them to their fullest, and you bring very real and simple examples how very much this is possible and how beautiful it is.
“what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’?”
My first sense is that this word originates from a verb which re-confirms its activity and purpose.
It seems that in valuing only our close relationships we are shutting down the interactivity of each and every connection which serves to confirm our togetherness, and rekindle the path back to brotherhood.
We live within an energetic web that feels every move we make, which in turn affects everyone else living within this web too. The more we learn about and appreciate this immutable truth, the more we realise our power and responsibility in nurturing the quality of our relationships in every part of our lives and with all the people we meet in our day, from the delivery guy to our partners and family. We have this golden opportunity to address the quality of life from all angles just by the way we choose to interact with people through out the day.
‘all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’ Yes they do – in a word that would be love.
Its good to see that no stone has been left unturned in exploring the real meaning of what relationships mean. Like so many things, we humans diminish the true meaning of words and so it is great to see the true meaning here reclaimed.
What a beautiful reminder the Latin origin of the word relationship offers (‘referre’, to bring back”.) – to bring ourselves back to love through true connection with ourselves and another.
“I also learnt that the word ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back”.
On my way to work I have built up a relationship with a train station warden and what a treat to be able to stop look each other in the eye and share how we are doing and what is going on. Yesterday was catching up and he hands me a Christmas card, such a confirmation how we both truly enjoy connecting and being a part of each others lives, even though in the past I wouldn’t of even considered taking the time to say hi.
“Relationships as Far as the Eye Can See” – yes what limitlessness … the more you look at something, anything, the more you see and understand you have a relationship with it.
We keep reducing the grandness of life and then acting as if that fraction of the whole is all there is. Everything in the Universe is in relationship with everything else and we have somehow made it about sexual interactions, finding the one and only and pretty much excluding most of the world by the way we have decided to interpret relationships.
‘Nothing is ever too much for him and his staff and I get the same treatment whether I spend $15 or $85.’ I love this consistency in commitment to service and quality.
‘Have we allowed familiarity to creep in, a certain fatigue and boredom?’ – to address this we must first start with the relationship we have with ourselves first, deeply appreciating all that we are, our own unique expression, for this is the quality of ourselves that we bring to all our relationships. The more we treasure ourselves, the more we are able to treasure everyone else.
Gabriele I love what you share here, the very fact that all relationships come back to the fact that we are all the same. It’s very inspiring to read, appreciate and make as part of my daily way through life. It takes away the judgement between people and it confirms the love that we feel.
I find the change to words an amazing thing, the fact that relationship truly and originally means ‘to bring back’ is amazing because of what it offers us to consider in relationship
“I also learnt that the word ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back”. Back is the only true way forward because in truth we have all been everything already.
That was one of the first truths and they were many that I took away from first attending a course by Serge and Universal Medicine ; that everything we need we already have within.
” everything we need we already have within”, what an absolute balm that is.
I may think I’m an individual but I’m in relationship with everyone and everything all of the time. What I do affects us all – this is both sobering and empowering. What we all do affects all of us. It’s a beautiful set up because ultimately we cannot but support one another. We are all in this world together and I know being competitive or self serving goes against the universal community if you will, we are from.
Remembering that we are always in relationship with someone or something, including ourselves – and that everything is a 2 way street, a reflection – brings awareness to our absolute responsibility to live with energetic integrity.
We can be in relationship all the time whether we are alone having a relationship with how we live or learning a deeper connection within which nurtures all other relationships. Relationships are an integral part of our life on this planet and offer us expansion and intimacy.
“When someone says they have stopped drinking, we all know that they are not referring to water, tea, juice or any other of the possible options. Drinking has become synonymous with drinking alcohol.” I find this fascinating as an example of how words are dominated and commandeered to reduce the meaning or use, totally obliterating the fully encompassing meaning. Words are manipulated down to a miserly communication, that no longer offers the wider symbolism they could otherwise offer.
I am totally with you on this one – words have been bastardised and spin-doctored to a degree that they are, in many instances, mere jargon and completely without meaning.
We need to ditch the idea that relationships are big and scary and see how we are already committed to many different kinds of relationships everyday. The question is what is the quality of and intention behind our relationships.
Relationships bring us back to the one unified way, where we come from. Without the reflection from one another, we won´t get it. I love relationships, as they challenge, show untruth, lets truth blossom and are mirrors of ourselves constantly.
Thank you for explaining the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’?
This makes complete sense to me as human-beings are after all a pack animal. If we take the Wolf as an example of a pack animal they have a very cohesive society every member of the pack has a role to play. They do not survive on their own, the pack is needed for the hunt, and other member are left behind to baby sit the youngsters, these can be the older members and the ones who are lame, they are still valuable members of the pack. I feel we have chosen to forget this intricate relationship we do have with each other. Just like my example of the Wolves. We work so much better when we do come together for a purpose this is evident when there is a disaster everyone sometimes from different countries comes together to do what ever is necessary; if we could just bring this sense of togetherness back into our everyday lives with each other we would be the richer for it. Just imagine instead of bitching and being abusive to one another which is getting worse day by day, if we could turn this around and offer support and genuine care instead.
‘Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’ And because we are all one each one of those relationships offers us an opportunity to connect to this truth.
It seems to me that anything I am not, I am in relationship with. What I find is that these relationships with other people and things are founded on my relationship with myself, which fuels how I am in life. A loving relationship with self, supports loving relationships with others. Equally a relationship with self that is based on hurt, leads me into a protective stance with others.
I have been working in an Aged Care Facility for 3 months and I have formed very loving relationships with many of the staff and the residents. I love them dearly and already consider them family, when I allow myself to deeply surrender to the loving being that I innately am.
What a disfavour we do ourselves by restricting the meaning of the word ‘relationship’ to such narrow confines, when our entire existence is about the quality of our relationships with everyone and everything.
We are in relationship with everyone we meet and it feels great to meet people with full open eye contact and to allow them in, the response we get is sometimes avoidance of eye contact back but when we do connect it feels lovely.
By equating ‘intimacy’ with sex only, we have given ourselves a loophole to not go to the depths we know we can go in our daily relationships with the people in our lives. This is yet another example of how we allow such deliberate misconstruing of words to justify our move away from love.
Thank you Liane for flagging this up. I am still on my way back to being able to use the word intimacy in its full very beautiful and inspiring meaning, rather than the misinterpreted sexual connotation that we have registered it as.
Understanding the root of the word relationship being to bring back exposes just what a lesser form we have come to accept over time.
I agree, instead of using relationships to evolve, most of the people use them to stagnate, feeling secure and staying in their comfortzone. What a waste of opportunities?!
True – relationships are often used as a cruisy way to remain in comfort and delay evolution.
What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual? Yes Gabriele, and why did we go into categorising relationships into this and that kind so then we are a certain way within each of those relationships instead of just being us and bringing our love with everyone we meet.
‘What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?’ – To narrow down the word relationship like that is effectively robbing us of the fact that every connection is a relationship.
I often see, that people are more professional when they are with their friends or colleagues, than they are with their partner. If you would say YES to the same intimacy and transparency, all the other relationships, that are not sleeping in the same bed with you, have a potential to give and show you everything you need to move on. But you have to be open for this as well and not keeping you in full exclusively only for that one person.
If we consider that we are all equally on the same journey in life, then no one relationship can be more or less important than any other relationship.
“Relationships as far as the eye can see”… and then some, to all our energetic relationships not seen but clearly felt by us all.
Thanks Paula for nominating this. Even though we can’t see it we are in fact in relationship with everyone and everything as everything is energy and everything can be felt. Whether we want to admit this is or not is another thing because it would mean looking honestly at how we are living and what choices we are making – but it doesn’t make this any less of a fact or less true by being in denial of it!
Well said, Elizabeth, and also to be aware that whatever we are bringing to one relationship, we are bringing to ALL our relationships.
Relationships are so important, so it makes sense to understand the true meaning of relationship, otherwise we could end up living the lesser version of true relationship, and can easily get very confused and perhaps struggle our way through life due to this. So, thank you for sharing your wisdom Gabriele, because I am seeing a lot of dysfunctional relationships around me due to our distorted understanding of what a relationship is.
Often people complain they have been maltreated but we do not look much at our own relationship with the people we were maltreated by. It would make sense that if as a director of a company for instance you get people who don’t do their work properly when the employees don’t feel met or seen by you. So too at the butcher or local grocery store, if people know you they would more easily go out of their way for you than when they don’t. It is not about these material things alone because the value of relationships goes deeper than this but it is an aspect of it and if we would treat each other with more respect in life we would also have less disrespect in the world just because if we feel met by someone we are more likely to be more respectful with everyone we meet. It is a ripple effect.
This is very interesting. I love reading about the truth in words. So often the meaning of words gets reduced and other times diluted, either way we compromise truth too often. In the current definition of the word ‘relationship, those who are single would consider themselves ‘not being in relationship’, but when we do use this word ‘relationship’ what is actually being implied is often an arrangement. Whatever has happened to this word?
We have let it slide, together with the decline in how we relate to each other on a daily basis.
To “bring back,” and what is it we are all looking for could it be possible our True relationships is returning to God or being religious?
Interesting that the original meaning of relationship was ‘to bring back’ when the majority of intimate relationships these days are based on seeking a picture outside of ourselves, which is in fact the exact opposite of the origin of the word.
Great point and a different angle altogether – thank you.
The conversations we have with strangers or acquaintances as we go about our day are beautiful reflections of the diversity of life, we can learn so much in these casual conversations.
When we truly appreciate the depth of relationship in our lives, even the briefest of encounters can leave such a beautiful glow within if we have met that person with all of our gorgeous presence and love. This is not about being affectionate or nice, but bringing a steady quality and genuine interest to every situation so others feel met, connected to and seen even if its only a few minutes in our lives.
The beauty of relationships is indeed part of who we are and the appreciation of these comes hand in hand with their quality which can be ever expanding and a joy in our hearts.
I get people expressing their sympathy to me over the fact that I am not in a relationship. How absurd! I am in relationships with everyone in my life, and my life is no less full and lovely without a committed intimate partner. In fact I live a very rich life developing relationships with friends and colleagues without the complication that an intimate relationship could bring. I love it, and I consider it my learning ground for if and when an intimate relationship comes my way.
Not being in an intimate relationship can indeed be a period of grace when we get to practise all the many relationships that are on offer all day long and realise that it is not just about the one and only.
We have gossamer connections with everyone, which is an opening to relationships with people. It is our choice to connect or brush them away. We may try to ignore them but they will never go way.
‘What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?’ … love how you are exposing the disregard that we are allowing for all the relationships we have, that we are not acknowledging as being so. Imagine how different our lives can be when we choose to honour and treasure each and every relationship.
The generalized narrowing of the meaning of relationship down to an intimate, romantic or sexual nature has skewed our everyday relationships with people and things, to such an extent that we believe we are not ‘in relationship’ when in fact we are – and can learn heaps from them. In effect when we don’t reclaim the word relationship, this narrowing is hindering our understanding and evolution.
I love the realisation that relationships can be momentary, even how we are with someone as we walk past them or even being on different side of the planet means that we are in relationship.
I am rather fond of this word – relationship, because it always brings people together in one form or another, it brings us all back to the fact that we are here together and for whatever reason, there is a journey we are all on together…
I agree – it is an unescapable fact that we are all part of the bigger picture, and hence we are on this journey together.
No matter how we try to divide, categorise and dice them, we see that relationships are key. It’s funny though how we emphasise ‘the one’ yet take for granted how we are with the shop assistant or ticket warden. When you start to see all 7 billion of us as connected to the same source, it changes things as you say Gabrielle. For then we finally understand it’s about our relationship with truth, all the time.
It is really interesting that over time the word ‘relationship’ is more narrowly defined, as if we stop having a connection with all other people or as if that connection is not relevant anymore.
Beautiful blog from a master of relationships, thank you for this sharing Gabriele.
Gabriele, you raise some great points here, I can feel reading this how narrow our interpretation of the word ‘relationship’ is nowadays, as you say we are constantly in relationship with everything and everyone and it is really lovely and feels very true to live life like this rather than in a very narrow idea that we can only have relationships with a partner or husband/wife.
Little kids live the truth that we are all one, it’s a delight to watch how naturally open they are and playful they can be.
I’ve observed in myself and in others that we can put effort into our intimate sexual relationships more so than we can with all our other relationships. It’s as though that one is more important than the others. But what if relationships are relationships and how we are in one affects all our relationships?
Great point and I would say that you are right on the money here – we cannot compartmentalise life like that and think that how we are with anybody does not affect how we are with our nearest and dearest.
Perhaps the more we realise this, the more we will treat everyone equally and brotherhood will be restored.
I love how you write Gabriele that we are always in a relationship with everyone we meet, and when the relationships are not harmonious, we are given the opportunity to understand how this plays out in the whole of our lives. The great thing is we can always build our side of any tricky relationship, and allow and hold others to be where they are too.
I totally agree with you. Relationship is not only a romantic intimate thing. It is universal.
Yes, and it can be enjoyable much more often than we may realise.
Our Relationship has to start with self as where we have been is in rocky waters and until we develop a True Sacredness within, life is simply of the deep end, which is usually a struggle to keep our head above water.
Without relationships we are no-thing.
Not only do we have relationships with many different people we have a relationship with every aspect of life and even with our own essence, either in connection or disconnection.
I wonder what happened in 1944, apart from WW2 ending that redefined relationships. Was it because our worldwide relationships had hit an all-time low and we didn’t want to see beyond our own partners and families?
That’s a great point and well worth pondering; after the devastation of two world wars the search for the one and only, further cementing alienation and an adversarial way of life.
Relationships start at the particle level, every one of our particles has a relationship with one another, and then so if we ever have a relationship problem with ourselves or with another then our particles have the answer.
I also learnt that the word ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back. This interpretation is so beautiful and brings a real wholeness to the word and its true meaning.
If relationships are opportunities in everyday life to bring back a sense of oneness and togetherness, then each interaction has great meaning and purpose.
So true Janet, true relationships can be very powerful, inspiring and evolving.
I have also started to deepen my understanding that my relationship goes beyond just the physical but it is also continually part of the Universe, how it interacts with nature, we are in relationship to absolutely everything. Such an expansive knowing which calls for a reflection of how I am living in and with absolutely everything.
How interesting that in 1944 the term relationship became so narrowed! I love the etymology of the word, however. It makes complete sense to me that in relationship we are bringing ourselves back. When we are in true relationship – not just need – we are supported to feel expanded and more joyful.
I’ve always thought I was open, but remember a time when I didn’t connect so readily with people in my community and often in the rush of the day would go into shops and complete a transaction say thank you and walk out. When I changed my work pattern from full-time to freelance and had more space, I began to walk rather than drive and spent more time with people as I went through my day. Now it is part of who I am to connect to people I meet where-ever I am and this feels more harmonious.
When we relate to others, we are,in essence, relating to ourselves. Being in close union, loving and steady with ourselves, brings these same qualities to relationships, and if disharmonious within. this comes through in our relationships.
“… ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back…” Bringing Love, Harmony, Stillness, Joy, and restoring quality, back into the union between people.
“I remember a conversation with a taxi driver in Sydney – just a short trip to the airport but when I asked him about his country of origin he completely opened up and I learnt more about Afghanistan and the war that was being waged there than any newspaper or other media outlet had ever reported” – i always love to strike up such conversations with people too Gabriele, because it’s through every day people, in every day life we see the world how it is and not the reported world selling sensation.
Relationships are one of the fastest ways to get to know yourself, the reflections we need are offered by everybody and everything, constantly.
An interesting observation Susan, that we might even avoid people because we don’t want the reflection, in whatever form it takes, that asks us to go deeper.
If our relationships aren’t supportive is it too easy to blame the other party? I know I’ve done this but it leaves me very conveniently as victim. But what if I were to bring all of me to the equation? I’m doing a college course and like every course I’ve done where I’m invested in the outcome I go into a state of apprehension. It doesn’t have to be this way – and not for two years! So I can choose to not shy away from what’s there to learn about life and relationships, to not fear feeling lost like I felt at school but stay present and observe which is very powerful.
So beautiful to know that the true meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is to ‘bring back’. I know that the more I stay with my self and open my heart to everyone I engage with, the more the joy is returning. A personal miracle and a gift from God that brings back the sunshine to normal everyday life.
The true foundation for every relationship is love, and our true expression and connection comes from that no matter who or what the relationship is with.
Relationships are a little like the process of ‘reducing’ in cooking. We are continually in them and they are supporting us to reduce the gap that we mistakenly think is between us and God. Slowly, slowly that gap will get less and less, until we and God are one delightful reunited tight and concentrated mix. Ooh how delicious will that be?
I like that comparison between cooking and seven something billion people on earth. What a melting pot we are, will be.
‘I also learnt that the word ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back’. Yes, it is us that we have to bring back. We have spent such a long time going walkabout that we have all lost sight of who we are. We are magnificent beyond measure and yet choose to settle for a life of mediocrity.
By narrowing down the meaning of words to either a speck of their true original meaning we also narrow down our lived understanding of those words and in so doing narrow down life itself to a mere speck of it’s original meaning. A sinister and devious way in which we voluntarily keep ourselves the runt of the litter.
Relationships as far as the eye can see because that’s what life is, a sea of relationships.
When you work in a shop at the till or checkout, it is interesting to observe how customers relate to you. Regular weekly shoppers take the time to say hello and build a relationship easily with you because of the familiarity. When we are strangers there is a noticeable difference and perhaps that is a indication of how separate we feel.
The reduction of the word relationship sees us keep others out and at bay to the detriment of our physical and mental health. I can feel in my bones that if we stopped seeing who we are as being defined by our religion, ethnicity, nationality, culture etc, we would not be at war and our world, our interactions and our health would be very different. It doesn’t start out there though, in the distant world, it starts inside us with a connection to the love we are from and that love being lived in our moment to moment lives.
It’s interesting to observe the importance placed on close, intimate relationships over the relationship we may have with, for example, the person who delivers our morning paper, when in fact there is opportunity for learning and evolution in all relationships.
Agreed Peter and when we return to a time of recognising the God in everyone then we won’t grade relationships in the way that we currently do.
I find the way words meanings shift a really interesting indication of the times – that relationships where once considered to be a return, a coming back and the word used widely, why suddenly has it become such a narrow word, used exclusively and therefore cutting us off from the potential it’s wider and original meaning offers
We have relationships with everyone and everything in our life, that we cannot change but the quality of what we bring to those relationships is entirely in our hands!
It is interesting how the word relationship has changed from its original meaning, it’s time we brought it back because we are not islands; we are in relationship with everyone and everything in our lives
” when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?
” This is so very true and the fact that we are from one and this been true means we cannot have a ” relationship ” with one, we can only live the connection of one and this would explain the origins of the word relationship to ” bring back ” bring back the whole connection and be as one.
Thank you for opening up the horizons for our responsibility in relationships.
Relationships, as you say Gabrielle are something we have with everyone. After all we are one!
This makes sense, how we relate to everyone and everything we do is relationship.
Relationships are everything. It is our first breath and our last and everything in between. The word relationship in the dictionary nowadays is a intentional reduction of this word.
For me the ‘bring back’ element is in terms of how we live and what that brings back into all our relationships..The more open I feel, the more easily I can connect with complete strangers who I meet on the street or at an airport and I have made some beautiful connections. My relationship with me determines how confident I feel meeting other people..
Love this post Gabriele, and your line here : “Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?”.. yes, and the only way we know this is to relate with people to find that [commonality, similarity] out. Else without such relating, we become insular, solo, hermetic and separatist which leads to great misery and disaster.
So true I have taken for granted that when people say they have stopped drinking, they mean alcohol. But hey it could mean water or lemonade….we have so abused the meaning of words and made up meanings that are so not true.
Isn’t it crazy that a discussion about the consumption of a poison that obliterates the body can be treated with such short-hand? It shows how far we have fallen. Imagine if we were to say “I have chosen to no longer poison my body with alcohol” – now that would then offer a truthful reflection for those that do still drink alcohol. Confronting – perhaps, but, with respect to each situation, we need to be expressing the truth otherwise we are allowing our brothers to say shrouded in the shadows.
Yes Otto probably confronting for many and they will let it fall on deaf ears but for others it may be the very thing that stops them in their tracks and makes them consider what they are actually doing to their precious bodies when consuming alcohol.
It’s the same with diet. I have found when I explain why I don’t eat certain foods, people often go “Oh, huh, yeah, I guess you’re right, yeah I feel that too, huh, thanks…” And then it is their choice as to what then do with that. The point is that things like alcohol, and certain foods that do not support our bodies, have become so normal that people don’t even question them. Thus it can be really supportive to just offer up the fact that there is an alternative or to respectfully remind them of the truth of some of these substances. In many cases people are really open to it and grateful for having their equilibrium rattled a bit.
In September the annual addition of new words were entered into the Oxford English Dictionary, there were more than 1,000 new words added. How discombobulating can this be for people learning English?
‘all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one’ – We are at war with what we deep down know to be truth, and hence living the opposite of truth has become the accepted norm in our society.
It feels so true to start using the real meaning of relationship to ‘bring back’ as we have separated so much and so far from the whole that we are and come from.
Love the inclusiveness of the true meaning of the word relationship, ‘to bring back’. This is the purpose of all our relationships no matter with who or what we are in relationship with. To return us to the one source we originated from, so are not all our relationships in truth about evolution–return..
I agree Victoria – ‘to bring back’ makes much sense when we know we all come from the same one source. It certainly makes a difference knowing the true meaning to words.
Yes when you look at many words and their true meaning it becomes clear can we have reduced their meaning to suit ourselves.
Everything is inter-connected… therefore we have a relationship with everything – things we can see with the human eye and things we cant.
This is a very expansive blog that highlights how a word can be used for many scenarios. It shows the purpose of relationships, and how they are so much more than emotional or physical.
“Relationships as far as the eye can see” – this is spot on for relationships abound around us and we cannot get away from them. As it is this is what allows us to grow and learn more about love than any other way!
A prefect design for us to learn as you highlight Henrietta’; to understand how we are in relationship with everything all of the time. Therein lies our responsibility.
How ironic that many see and feel relationships too much effort and choose to live in isolation from the love we all contain.
The ‘bring back’ element of this is very profound and brings a true purpose to a relationship. A far cry from the comfort blanket that most of us like our relationships to be.
I love the title of this blog. But actually, our relationships go way, way beyond what the eye can see. We are constantly in relationship with everyone we connect with and even when we are not in their presence.
It is amazing the long term relationships we can develop with food and tv – making sure we never miss an episode, following the story and immersing ourselves in it and yet we don’t see it as a form of relationship, but if we did would we see it as similar to an unhealthy relationship?
A great point Rebecca – being hooked in by TV series, social media, food etc is just as unhealthy relationships as any.
And it can be long term – we can be in these committed relationships for years and never fear the commitment like we seemingly fear then when we are in a relationship with a person
Although I live in London, where I am it feels like a village and I tend to use the farmers market, green grocer, butcher and fish mongers to buy my groceries rather than the supermarket. Not only is the produce often better but I have got to know them and it feels lovely to connect each week, get ideas and advice on different ways to prepare and cook my food.
Great insight Gabrielle. Life becomes much more interesting and purposeful when we allow the space to reflect.. such as you have here with the word and meaning of Relationship.
It is interesting and telling that there so many example in our vocabulary where we have reduced the meaning conveyed by words. Is this a reflection of a reduced quality of life we are living? Or is it a reflection of reduced way of choosing to see life? Perhaps it does not matter which one is the leading choice, because each of them will affect the other and ultimately our relationship with the whole of life.
Conversations like this are very necessary.
Interesting that in business we talk about the relationship with the customer, but perhaps we’ve got that wrong and should shift it to being about the relationship with the person instead. Something to ponder on is the notion of relationship as encounter not as an ongoing arrangement. That itself changes the meaning of relationship, to be about any interaction or interchange, no matter the length of it.
This is a great one to consider Gabrielle, that we are in relationship to everyone all the time and this is based on the relationship we have with ourselves and so the equality we hold everyone in.
Yes, Gabriele, a relationship can only be true if we accept that we are all one and there are no special relationships.
Yes, Janet which can be very exposing of the separated way so many of us live.
Gabriele I love taking words back to their origins and true meanings when we do with with relationship it changes the way we view them. Ultimately they are designed to bring us to within rather than going out to be with another as we have twisted the meaning to be.
When we really stop to fully consider what is presented here, it brings us home to the irrefutable fact that we cannot exist in this world without being in relationship to something or some one within all the time. When we flip our focus from ‘what do I get out of it’, to ‘what can I bring to it’ the quality of these relationships all around us are given an opportunity to truly evolve.
I find that to connect, appreciate and enjoy my everyday relationships makes life rich and the day/jobs flow.
Pachinko machine balls are constantly in relation with each other but ultimately come back together, are we not the same?
‘Drinking has become synonymous with drinking alcohol.’ …. I love your observation here, Gabriele, on how some words have been ‘hijacked’ with a very specific connotation – it’s interesting to feel into how this is then playing out energetically throughout our society, as we are all expressing with words on a daily basis.
Re or to return? so what are we returning to! Could it be our divine connection we are all searching for? So is this the relationship everyone is looking for? Or has it always been there?
We do not have to re-invent the wheel as the Ageless Wisdom has always been there for those in True relationship!!
In fact living is a constant relationship with oneself and then with every other person we ever encounter in our day and on our travels. I love meeting people and have a forever curiosity as to what makes them tick.
After reading Gabriele’s beautiful blog, I can see relationships are really the ‘jewel in the crown’, the ‘pick of the crop’. We have so many sayings in our language that could be used to express that relationships are, in fact, the number one thing we have in our lives to re-connect with who we truly are and meet that exact same quality in others, whenever and wherever they cross our paths.
This is such a great blog for reminding us Gabriele that we are in relationship with everyone we meet and that no relationship should have a lesser amount of love in it as if we do hold back we are holding back from ourselves and God.
Life is so different when I feel the truth that I am in relationship with everyone I meet and all that I do. It asks of me a different quality, so much more open and loving than when I have narrowed myself to being in relationship to just a few people. This narrowing down of people means the quality of relationship is also narrow and limited, dependant on need rather than freedom to be who we are.
Did you ever discover more about the specificity of 1944?
What you say about drinking is so fascinating – I’d never considered this. What it shows me is that our level of acceptance of ‘normal’ is constantly shifting. What else do we now consider normal? Two cups of coffee every morning? Diabetes? Inaccurate journalism? Cyber abuse? It shows me how careful I have to be with language and expression, as each time a non-normal is accepted as normal, then the more normal it becomes.
Love this – such a simple gift, inviting us to deepen every single expression – equally
Reading this blog got me to ponder more on the word ‘intimate’ and subsequently to gain a deeper appreciation of this word too. Being intimate with another doesn’t automatically equal a sexual relationship, but so often this is what we assume this word to imply. I realised that being intimate is about sharing the inner aspect of our selves, allowing all our precious places to be seen, felt, adored and appreciated. We have much to re-learn about the art of true relationship, of how we give from our hearts and return something of beauty to the world.
Your sharing here Gabriele reminds me of a cartoon a friend of mine did with a number of ‘relation ships’ sailing the sea. I loved this idea as it conveys how we are all designed to constantly relate and navigate a course back to Love and God naturally. No matter the storms or the strange course we at times might take, we are all headed home and this is what life’s about.
Great analogy and sounds like a great cartoon, too.
The quality of our IN breath affects the quality of our OUT breath and relationship with everything in life.
I never realized how supported we are with all the relationships with everything and everyone around us to bring us back to our correct place in the universe in the quality that equals that of our father.
Yes, relationships with everything – human, animal, inanimate objects – everything is a reflection and therefore a relationship that can bring us back to live the love we are with ourselves and each other.
It’s interesting that the word relationship comes from a Latin word meaning to bring back. Perhaps there lies the key to our return to Heaven – via relationships.
A great conversation to begin and for us all to consider Gabriele. We are constantly in a relationship with everything, and it is the quality of the relationship we hold for ourselves that determines that quality of relationship we experience with life and all that we are intrinsically part of. We cannot escape the fact that with our every breath we are in a relationship with every aspect of the world we are moving in.
Yes, no man is an island and the sooner we realise our responsibility for the all, the better for all of us.
It occurred to me that if a long term relationship with friend or family or acquaintance is becoming fatigued or boring, may it be because we have allowed a familiarity not only to creep in, but have also allowed it to dull us and check out from our own responsibility for keeping it alive and moving? Sometimes we need to move away from it but not until we have explored all the possibilities of a deeper connection.
Yes, Joan, I have noticed that there are certain friends that want to only talk about what we did years ago as if the present day holds no interest and is less exciting. But like you say it is for us to keep working at the relationship, so if it has gone stale, it is just as much my doing as it is theirs.
What do we bring back in relationship? The everything we are and that we are part of.
It’s funny I have clocked that I have had relationship with people that are not considered my intimate circle of friends and family yet the connection I have with them is stronger with those that are. It all comes down to our beliefs around relationships and how much we are prepared to let go and be open with everyone no matter who they are. To not settle for something that is less than decency and respect. One that is asking us to be all of who we are and embracing this with others.
I have felt this too. The depth of a relationship is not dependent on the hours invested in it – it is all to do with mutual transparency and acceptance of the fact that we are all one. If that is the foundation then the relationship can go to gigantic depths in a nano-second.
Learning that in fact I have a relationship with everything was a point that opened up the possibilities of looking at life more closely and learning from these relationships – with people, with objects, with beliefs.
It caught me a little off guard to realise that we have relationships with objects too as i’ve tended to not regard and respect them at the level which I know how.
Yes, once we cut ourselves out the ripple effect is already set.
I have been pondering this myself Gabriele – we are so quickly grading the relationships we are in, as if some are of more importance or value than others, when truth is that if we truly connect with each person we interact with, there is no difference. We all belong to the same source.
Thanks, Gabriele. I really like that relationships are about ‘bringing back’ the love and connection we have all experienced, and know as the only way to truly change the state of the world today.
When we come to a relationship bringing all of us we are allowing the other person an insight into humanity. It offers us all the space to explore who we are – we are bringing a quality of depth and preciousness that can expand and become magnificent.
it strikes me Gabriel that if we have reduced relationships to this meaning, then what a insular pressure pot we have made for ourselves of our intimate relations!
This is a really great angle on it all – I’d never have thought of it like this. Suddenly that ‘one’ relationship has to deliver everything! Mmmm – this is really interesting – I’m going to ponder more on this one.
I love the title of this blog because it’s so true – where, as far as you can see, are there NOT relationships?
When we open up the word ‘Relationship’ to be more than our understanding at present, we see that we have a relationship with everything and everyone, no matter how brief or insignificant it may seem, and offers us way more than the limitations we have set by narrowing and reducing the word from its true meaning,
What you raise here brings a whole new dimension to our understanding of relationships – am I in an abusive relationship? Well on one hand, no I do not have a partner who beats me, but I do have relationship with food that is at times very abusive of my body, or when I don’t let myself get the sleep I know I need by staying up late, or when I push and make myself do more even when my whole body is asking to stop. If I don’t just brush these moments off but see them as the outplays of an abusive relationship with myself, it makes it far more real and therefor more honest
Very thought provoking blog Gabriele. ‘…what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’?’ Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I love what you are sharing here because whenever I meet someone new – even if for a fleeting moment and a real connection is made, my life is altered. That person, or whoever I am in relationship with me, inspires in me something different – a feeling of freshness, a way of looking at life I hadn’t considered before – as such we could say that with each new relationship I am being brought back to a fuller whole that I just simply can’t get to on my own.
Understanding relationship as to mean only intimate, romantic or sexual relationships is so separative as being doing so it creates a sense that we cannot be open and share with others. However, as you express so well Gabriele, we are always in relationship with everyone and everything all the time, to be inclusive not exclusive and in doing so life is enriched.
I love all the relationships with the people who are around me. It just takes a willingness to be open and suddenly there are friends and connections around you everywhere. It’s so easy to remain shut off and miss out. No wonder we yearn for a special someone to fill the gap.
Its good to know that everything in life is a relationship, we can’t help but have them with everything or everybody we come into contact with. The trick is to deepen the ones we already have and never take anything for granted.
So true, appreciate, honour, respect, nurture and love the ones that we have. With these qualities at the lead of any relationship it will never be dull and always evolutionary.
‘I asked him about his country of origin he completely opened up and I learnt more about Afghanistan and the war that was being waged there than any newspaper or other media outlet had ever reported.’ … so beautiful how much we can learn about each other and from each other when we have a genuine interest to do so.
It is interesting the behaviours that occur in our relationships and how these behaviours keep on occurring unless one party chooses to see them for what they are and make changes. Comfort can keep a relationship stuck in an ill momentum but simply becoming aware of this, the boredom and lethargy that I can feel in my body is an opening to seeing more and making the necessary changes knowing the support is always there if I choose to be willing to connect to it and ask.
Another example of how we bastardise words and use them in a lesser way.
In asking how we relate to everything we are asked to be responsible for the quality we bring to such relationships – perhaps this is why we have reduced the scope of such an all-encompassing word.
It’s actually amazing to consider just how many relationships we have in our lives even down to the butcher or telephone provider we use, we are always in relationships showing us that wherever we are in our lives we have the opportunity to appreciate the interconnectedness of the all and learn and grow as we feel too within each and every relationship we have.
I found an article on the WEB looking for ‘relationships are relative’ and found an interesting help article with tips for having a healthy relationship; that included arguing, making up, great sex, having good manners. None mentioned anything about just being love, but there was a lot of the needs that were required from the other to give to you.
Sticking on intimate, romantic or sexual as being the description for a relationship is capping us in many ways. As we do have relationships with all of life, people, objects like houses, cars, beautiful clothes to name a few, but also with nature, the universe, the all, because we are undeniably part of everything and therefore in relationship with it. So when we limit ourselves in relationships we do limit our being in living in full with all that we are naturally connected to.
We are always in relationship with everything – it never stops. How we are in our own quality, the quality of our way of being, changes our relationship to people, jobs, food, life, death … everything.
“what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’? Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?” That is food for thought, I would never have picked it for that meaning. It really is worth pondering because it shifts my perspective of the notion of “relationships” to something more all embracing and all encompassing. I have had the tendency to be exclusive with some relationships. However, to ‘bring back’,is less personalised and there’s a feeling of equality for me.
‘I also learnt that the word ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back.’ I love this as it is a confirmation of the purpose behind relationships and why they are so important for us.
Indeed Julie – when we learn the true meaning of words they make sense.
“…all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?…” This brings a great understanding to the meaning of the word ‘relationship’ and offers up one to look and consider how they ‘do’ relationships…
Absolutely love your blog Gabriele, the historical root of meanings of words shows us just how far nudged off track today’s meaning of words have changed become.
What a fantastic reminder Gabriele and absolutely I agree 100% that each and every relationship that we have in our lives is just as important than the ones we have believe are the only important ones because they feel more intimate. i have re-learnt that an intimate relationship is when I am open and allowing all of who I am out and allowing the other person in – no matter what.
Love what you share here Natalie about intimate relationships ‘when I am open and allowing all of who I am out and allowing the other person in – no matter what.’ Too often we’re measured in our relationships: give volumes to those we like and a pinch to others. In other words, we see some as more deserving of our love than others. Your way has the potential to relate to everyone equally as one and the same.
That’s very interesting how the definition of the word relationship changed and narrowed after 1944…there are lots of words that have been changed in their meanings and we use them without checking or fully realising that they have slipped or degraded from their original meanings. Great to claim the original meanings back again.
Appreciating the truth of relationship brings a deeper awareness of the interconnectedness of everything.
Gabriele, great question; ‘What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual?’, Reading this I can feel how limited our version of relationship has become, when in truth we are indeed in relationships with so many people, not just those we are intimate with.
I am realising, by changing the true meaning of the word ‘relationship’ means we are less likely to live in a way that brings us to this fact….’all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one’. But deep down, I feel we all do know what the true meaning of relationship is, but perhaps we are choosing to not live the truth because it involves taking responsibility for our choices and letting go of delay tactics to evolve back to living as One with humanity.
When I looked up relationship this is what it said ‘the way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected’ So relationships are about connection .. cool I would agree and it doesn’t state relationship is whether someone is a partner. But what is the quality of connection to both ourselves and others? Great to have this discussion.
All of the other words: link, bond, alliance and many others do not require giving or receiving from another! We are molecules that are complete and require nothing to make us more that we are!
You raise a really interesting point here, how the meaning of words becomes narrowed and in doing so cuts us off from the potential the wider or true meaning offers
When I think of all the things we have a relationship with.. it is actually endless and limitless. And how we are in and with one relationship affects all the others. Experimenting with focusing on the quality of my relationship with one part of my body, for example my feet, brings more awareness, more focus and care to all other areas.
I remember the first time someone told me drink driving was illegal – I was only 5 years old or so But even then I knew that drink driving must refer to drinking something that makes it difficult to drive and I didn’t even really know what alcohol was. This reminds me that we do have a connection to the true meaning of words- we’ve just chosen to ignore what we know.
We are constantly in relationship with everything in life, and the quality of our relationships is according to our awareness.
Yes it is so good to understand that we are in a relationship with everything and everyone. The key is what is the quality of the relationship and what is its foundation?
What you have unpacked here Gabriele is how much we have diminished the word relationship… when it is everything from the minutest connection to our connection with the whole Universe.
Great to consider our relationship with relationships. Through our relationships we have the opportunity to connect to each other on many levels, which can be expansive and supportive as we evolve through life. I find it fascinating we each have our expressions which may be different and yet in essence we are the same…many expression of the one. And lets not forget the relationship with ourselves..
We are all in relationship with another be it, friend, work colleague, sister, brother, mum, dad or grandparent. To singularly make the word relationship exclusive to the romantic kind seems rather odd. Yet, this is what we do.
Relationships are relationships and do not need to be limited to just the romantic kind, though in a sense with playfullness, we can bring that romance (the fun and lightheartedness with self) to another. And further to that intimacy in the sense of sharing deeply one’s feelings and one’s true nature, with no holes barred is something that we can also bring to all relationships and not just reserve that part of ourselves to one person only.
It is the reservation that causes the separation or vice versa.
So true, Henrietta …. I used to ‘think’ that being intimate with someone was something physical, reserved for my partner, yet I am now appreciating more and more how exquisite it is to deepen my intimacy with myself and then be able to bring this deeper level of connection and intimacy to all of my relationships.
“And on a final note – as to our relationships with people, what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’? Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?” – a beautiful truth to ponder on Gabriele – and I feel that relationships are here to support us in healing those parts of us that are not seeing that we are ‘all one’ and so we are offered an opportunity in and with each relationship with every person and every thing and every activity that shows us the way for us to heal and let go of constraints that stop up from being all one. What a blessing.
We have so many pictures about life which get in the way of us truly feeling what is in front of us and responding in a way that supports us all to evolve and expand. It is very useful once in a while to stop and reflect on our relationship with and beliefs around various areas of life. Thank you for this invitation to observe our adopted view on relationships.
We are relationship; there is nothing else but being in relationship.
Only question is how much we cooperate with the unconditional love offered.
Relationships as far as the heart can feel.
Without relationship we’d have to be living in a vacuum – Our whole life is a series of interrelated relationships.
I love reading this and being reminded that I am in relationship with everyone and everything, and that I can either be bringing myself back to me, or not. That this is so with my relationship with food, with sleep, with work is great – nothing is a wasted opportunity.
Could it be we are all so aligned to a competitive way of life we always feel we need a referee, or as Gabrielle has shared “I also learnt that the word ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back.” So when connected, and we start to share a true expression our relationships will develop into being at-least honest.
We do ourselves a disservice when we box and categorise our interactions with others into those that we are close with, those that are acquaintances and relatives and so forth, and then we treat those within those categories accordingly. Never can we have a true relationship with another if we separate and divide in that way, as where is the equality and true love?
Yes, Gabriele. Every interaction has the potential to be a soulful reunion, once we open up and let people in.
It’s interesting how the word realtionship has changed to mean something that ‘we want it to mean’, and as a consequence we have lost touch with its true meaning through a process of something that is akin to Chinese whispers. No doubt there are hundreds, if not thousands of other words that we no longer know the true meaning of. It makes me wonder how different our conversations would be if we were to start using words with their true meaning again, and as a result how different our relationships would be based on this.
When we restore the true value of the word, we can see that we are in relationship all the time because we are bringing a quality into the world that contributes to every interaction we have. And now the power lies with us to establish the nature of that relationship, to express an authentic welcome first and then receive in equal measure.
I, like many, have had the narrow view of what a relationship is for a very long time. Today my understanding is so very different and when I hear the word relationship it feels all encompassing and not just confined to one or two people. I now know that I am in a relationship with every single person I meet during the course of every single day no matter the length of time we are together. And when I feel into the word relationship and its origins I get a sense that we are coming back, returning to, a way of being that we knew a long time ago but had walked away from and that is living in relationship, in brotherhood, with all.
Using the example of ‘giving up drinking’ communicates clearly and succinctly how the true meaning of words become lost, no wonder there is so much mis-communication in the world and the opportunity to manipulate language for personal gain.
This is a brilliant fresh take on relationships, I agree in that saying we only have “one relationship” seems demeaning of all our other relationships with everyone else we know, and the fact that a relationship means “to bring back” shows the power that all our relationships can have, the potential to bring back or remind us of a forgotten truth.
Gabriele, I love how you end this with “all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one.” I’ve taken the question mark away because this feels a true statement, we can take our ‘self ‘out of relationships because we are all the same, and have such similar issues so that nothing is new. Our relationships with everyone can reflect we are all one.
All relationships should be appreciated, and indeed appreciating them helps us see the magic and inspiration at play all the time even without us trying.
So beautiful to feel how all our relationships bring us back to the truth that we are all one and in choosing to only focus on particular ones we diminish the learning on offer in every situation.
It seems like this word relationship is another word that we so conveniently try to reduce the meaning of. Everything in life is a relationship whether we like it or not.
We are always relating to everyone all of the time even if you are a hermit living in a cave somewhere because everything is energy and we feel energy all of the time. so it makes sense that we feel each other all of the time. For most of us we chose to ignore this most phenomenal part of us. I cannot believe that I have spent most of my life trying to shut down feeling energy when it is such a part of me like breathing. And it is such a brilliant aspect of me to be able to read life and so therefore not be so affected by it. Why we are not taught as part of our education system to feel and recognise energy makes no sense to me as it is such a valuable tool.
There’s only one relationship, lived through many people.
“Have we allowed familiarity to creep in, a certain fatigue and boredom? And if so, have we not deserved better and more?” This is so true and this is how we reduce our relationships to arrangements and convenient companionship. Relationships offer us an opportunity to grow together while realigning true to ourselves, so that we can reflect something different to the world, ……an equality and richness and a forever deepening that at present is sorely missing in this world. We do deserve more Gabriele and it is up to us to be willing to demand and accept more.
Thank you Gabriele. I really admire your ability to put in to words the things that we are all living, never not in relationship with eachother and the world around us, it is so important to be given this opportunity to see life with this depths of understanding.
We are constantly relating to the objects around us, our environment and others and if we consider this then is it that we do not like to take responsibility for the quality in which we are relating?
We have always had relationships with everything around us, its part of the harmony of life. We the free thinkers think we can improve on this!
All that actually exists are relationships. Even so called inanimate objects are borne out of relationships.
Under every single relationship that any of us have with any-thing or anyone is our relationship with God.
Gabriele your articles are written in such a way as to always open up such valuable discussion.
And what about the relationship to self? Do we ever talk about the relationship we have with ourselves and the fact that how we are with ourselves is the foundation for every relationship we have. So for example when we choose transparency and allow ourselves to be open and seen we develop intimacy with ourselves first and then naturally we can present it in every movement from there on.
Thank you Caroline. I was offered a moment of intimacy yesterday and it was interesting how much I allowed myself to be transparent and open. I can feel that there is still a layer of protection, or maybe a few, but there is so much less and interesting how old patterns from childhood come up with family members to be repeated and how we can clock them and change anything but love to love in an instant.
Given that we can bring ourselves back to ourselves through relationships what is happening when then we experience relationship issues? Could it be that in those moments we are avoiding ourselves? If so then the answer to all relationship issues is to build a strong relationship with ourselves and in the moments of difficulty then we can bring ourselves back to ourselves.
Yes, it is important to note just how many relationships we have and not to ignore all but the closest ones.
This is so beautifully written. I had never realised that the origin of the word relationship was to ‘bring back’. This confirms what Serge Benhayon has been presenting for many years now. If a relationship with any person or object does not bring you back to who you are then it’s not a relationship at all but an arrangement to stay in comfort.
Beautiful Gabriele, in day to day life the word relationship comes laced with the idea you are going to get something at the end, whether it is loyalty, special favours, or a ring. But what you share dispels all of this and makes it clear that each of us is here to connect and relate back to the fact that we all come from the same source. The rest is just the details.
When we relate to everyone with the knowing and acceptance that we are all One, this immediately changes how we relate to them. I find when I am not accepting of this fact, I can easily go into making my relationships with people very complicated.
I love returning to the deeper meaning of words in this case this is aptly about relationships.
In reality, our whole life is about relationships… with ourselves, with others, with everything we connect with on a physical level – be that a chair or nature, and our relationship with our Soul, with God and the Universe… its all about the quality of these relationships.
That is true. Also, when our outside relationships deteriorate it can be very helpful to look at our relationship with ourselves.
How gorgeous it is to know that the word relationship is derived from the latin word ‘referre’ meaning to come back …. everything is connected, we are all a part of the whole, therefore, we are constantly in relationship with everything and everyone – relationships bring us back to the truth of who we are and all that we are a part of.
I agree Alison, with the meaning to come back I can feel the pull for us all to return to ourselves and each other as one and with the universe.
By bastardising the meaning of relationships – because that is essentially what has happened – we have also bastardised the meaning of intimacy. Again – synonymous with sexual overtones these days rather than us being knowing that intimacy can be with anyone when we have surrendered to the intimacy within ourselves – and how rich and beautiful any relationship, be it one that has stood the ages of years gone past or simply a momentary interaction with someone we have met before, can be.
It’s interesting to feel the difference between the true meaning of the work being ‘to come back’, yet when I consider relationship from what I thought was a ‘relationship’ it was about ‘going to’ someone or something. That is not being one but accommodating to be ‘a part’ of what was seen as relationship.
Your words make the feeling of oneness palpable, thank you.
After reading this blog it makes me wonder just how many other words have had their meanings changed and/or manipulated over time. Perhaps we can all feel into what certain words we take for granted really mean, especially ones like religion, science and philosophy, as a misconstrued notion of these words can have devastating effects on society.
I’m not sure which came first, the chicken or the egg, perhaps the way we use the words came first or perhaps we forgot we are in relationship with everyone first, but now they go hand in hand and are part of the same circle. Because we seem to reserve the word relationship for a sexual intimate relationship, we tend to forget that all our relationships need attention, commitment and care, not just the person we are married to and or sleeping with.
I was unaware of the meaning of the word ‘relationship but I can see how this makes so much sense. Without relationships, we are quite lost. I have noticed that as I deepen that relationship with me, it deepens my relationships with others so perhaps, the most important one is the relationship with ourselves, a benchmark for how we will appreciate, treat and respect others.
Being ‘single’ is another bastardised word because of its connotation with failing in some way, When we have inner self worth and feel complete, we can live on our own, without feeling lonely. In any case what about the relationship we have with ourself?
This is a great example of how we barstadise words taking them away from the truth they carry.
I agree, we are in relationship with everybody on the planet
Very beautiful to read Gabriele. There is so much more to our life than just that one relationship. We often feel bad or tensed in life because of all our connections in the world that don’t work so well. What if we could see these as equally important relationships and work on these just like our intimate one?
This shatters all those false pictures we have of relationships being about two people, me and thee, intimate partnerships. How ridiculous, we live and relate with people all the time, phone calls, on-line, face to face, emails, writing blogs and blog comments. This new awareness means we’re never alone and forever relating.
Every part of the Universe is all interconnected and one. Yet we humans in this plane of life have chosen to hold a belief contra to that and act as if it is possible to live in our own little bubble.
Nonetheless we have a relationship with every aspect of life and the Universe and we are blessed by the fact that these relationships, despite of our usual frustration, give us signs that we are going against the natural divine flow of the Universe. Yes very true that eventually “all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one”.
My sense on reading your blog Gabrielle is that the purpose of relationships is to reflect something back to us that we need to see in order to ‘bring us back’ to ourselves.
When you really think about it, there is nothing you don’t have a relationship with. Nothing. So with illness and disease on the rise everywhere what does this tell us about the true state of our relationships given that illness and disease can also be in our relationships just as much as in our body?
Gabriele I love all the different types of relationships that you have with so many people and how you are claiming the fact that relationships are far greater than what may at first meet the eye, in fact it’s our eyes that get in the way of seeing how everything and everyone we meet we are in relationship with.
I loved reading about your relationships Gabriele, enjoying how you are so natural, open and equal with your house mates, butcher, greengrocer and taxi driver.
I have found that relationships ‘begin at home’ – with the relationship with self. The more I deepen my relationship with myself, the true innateness within me – the better my relationships with others are.
Why do we only seek relationship advice or counselling when something goes wrong in an intimate relationship? Do we stop to consider the health of all our other relationships and if they are supporting us or holding us back, growing us or not, and if we are expressing all we could be in them?
Succinct and razor sharp, I love this short article about our relationship with the word relationship and how we have modified it to suit current norms. How many other words have we wrenched from their true meanings, leaving us bereft of the clarity, simplicity and inspiration of expressing ourselves?
Thank you for sharing “…that the word ‘relationship’ comes from the Latin ‘referre’, to bring back.” and I love how you present that what if all our relationships came back to the essence of us all being one – to living with that kind of mutuality and equal honouring…
I love what you have shared here Gabriele. There are many beliefs of what a relationship should or should not be that don’t work. I have found that working on the relationship I have with myself has been the most loving thing I have ever done for me and everyone else.
I have to admit, that until Serge Benhayon explained that we are not just in a realtionship with our partners or someone who we are intimatley close with, but with every single person we meet, that I had never considered this. But we can and do talk about ‘the realtionship we have’ with any one person, whether that is our postman, our neighbour, our work colleagues or family members, so it makes complets sense that we are in a relationship with everyone we come into contact with. In which case, why would we treat anyone differently to any other, when we are all in essence, the same.
Everything, everyone and every detail around us is there to support us with coming back to ourselves and our relationship with God to be the Gods we are.
I love the sharing of this, it is so true, every relationship and connection with others is important, we are always constantly relating with people and every interaction leaves an imprint. It is important that we value all of the connections in our lives.
We shouldn’t write off any relationship even when there are dynamics playing out that make it seem ugly, tense and filled with issues, because it’s very possible that this waywardness is just acting as a distraction away from how amazing that relationship could be. Almost everyone has an example of that person they just ‘never thought they’d be friends with’ who ended up being an extremely close and valued member of their friends/family down the track. If we close off to people we can miss so many incredible opportunities like this.
What a great blog Gabriele! Relationships are everything. We learn through relationships, so why only focussing on one person- or even when you are single- you would have not a chance to grow? Of course not- the moment you ascribe importance to every single moment you relate to another, everything gets reflected for you. I would not like to miss that!
Gabriele, I so enjoyed reading your blog which has inspired me to stop for a moment and appreciate all the lovely relationships I have in my life.
This is beautiful Gabriele. ‘To bring back’ also offers to me that there is the opportunity in every relationship to receive the reflection of exactly what it is we need to feel and see to return / bring ourselves back to our true way of being. Sometimes this reflection confirms what is true and in other occasions it reflects and exposes patterns and behaviours that we are caught in that are contra to our natural way of being. Both are to be deeply appreciated.
I will approach relationships – in all aspects of life – quite differently after reading this article, thank you.
What makes us assume that a connection only deserves to be called a relationship when it is intimate, romantic or sexual? Most of us really do hold this belief, as did I once, but when you have an understanding of what makes up a true relationship and true intimacy with others, you wonder how you could have not felt the untruth in that before.
Its amazing to unearth the depth of offering in words and get a sense of how they have been reduced and in turn what this reveals about what humanity is choosing not to see.
Yes, I agree, Lucinda, it is fascinating to see how we modify language to avoid the simplicity and clarity that it offers. Embracing all our relationships and their ability ‘to bring back’ our connection to ourselves and each other is a brilliant responsibility that is ours for the taking.
I have noticed that most people go around with their head down not looking at anyone not wanting to engage eye contact keeping themselves to themselves. This is such a pity and it was not always this way as I remember as a child shopping with my mum we lived in a country market town and you could not go five yards without bumping into someone and stopping for a chat. Even if you didn’t know them you would always greet them with a salutation of some sort. Now it seems we are all too busy with our heads down charging around without a minute to spare.
“when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?” So true Gabriele. Learning to treat – and love – everyone equally – means taking responsibility in every area of our lives. We are all the same under our skin.
Reading this made a lot of sense but also highlights our way of using words to reduce life.
I love how when we bring the original meaning of words they make so much sense. So if relationship means ‘to bring back’ then essentially every interaction can be seen as a way to bring back the love we naturally are. What a game changer this would be if we all put it into action!
Everything is a relationship and we are always in a relationship, even when we are alone. We are in a relationship with ourselves and we can grow this, like any other relationship. Through Universal Medicine I have gained a much deeper understanding on what relationships are and how I am in relationships. I appreciate so much about what is on offer to learn through each relationship, even though sometimes it may be mighty uncomfortable. Given this, I also feel that relationships mean opportunity.
Powerful reminder that we are all one..and when we work together in harmony, every-one being valued and respected, this can clearly be felt – we all have something to contribute.
How different the world looks when we appreciate that we all are connected to each other and therefore never lonely, if we live the knowing of this.
Yes, Gabriele, having recently moved to a new area I am enjoying establishing new relationships with my fishmonger, dentist, accountant etc – every one of them being just as important and equally joyful.
Thank you Gabriele. An interesting foray into the meaning of a word. We all have many people we call our relations and they are often those we come back to when we gather to mark certain events in life. And a ship is a vessel that supports those on board as they journey on the sea, or the sea of life. So it makes sense that all we meet on our journey of life are those we are in a relationship with.
Everything is constantly in relationship with everything. We can try to pretend or imagine that this is not as it is, but in the end we all are connected and affecting each other all the time.
Gabrilele, thank you for raising this subject, it seems that we currently have a very limited idea of relationships and if we are not in an intimate relationship with a partner or husband then this can be seen as a failing, rather than knowing the truth; that we are in relationship with everyone all of the time, this takes the pressure off finding ‘the one’.
As has been said above and in this blog, relationships are about learning energetic responsibility, if we learn to live in co-existence with one in complete harmony, then learning to live that vibration with everything else we do is the responsibility part.
Well said. We are first with ourselves, then with another and then with everyone else – what a great opportunity we are given to learn about energetic responsibility.
Lovely, Gabriele to appreciate we have a relationship with everyone in our lives. We may not be aware how important this is, because how we are with one, so are we the same with all. Therefore it is hugely important how we respect everyone we pass by in our daily lives.
Thank you Gabriele. You remind us of the truth that we are in constant relationship with everything, people, objects even space all the time and that in reality we are never isolated even when we might feel so. The other gift I realize is that so often we expect a relationship to give us something, love, excitement and so on, to fill up our lack of self worth. However the real meaning of the word asks us to consider what it is we bring, our love, connection, tenderness and joy to enrich the interaction and make it bigger.
And when we feel the oneness no doubt we sense the love and expansiveness, the complete opposite to the meaning of the word relationship we have been led to where it is today… interesting!
By reducing relationship to referring only to partners we try to ignore the reality that we are in relationship with everything all the time as we all come from the same source. Yet another bastardisation that tries to prevent us from embracing the glory and divinity of us all.
Living in a city as large and busy as London it is easy I suppose to make everything less personal and intimate with those that we meet if we want but if we look at it properly there is no escaping the fact that we are in a relationship with everyone we meet whether we like to think so or not.
When we accept more responsibility in our lives, it causes the fog to slowly lift and expose what we have accepted as the bastardisation of so many words. What other words await us to discover the gold that lies below the tarnish we have created?
Haha Gabriele I love your last question: “. . . as to our relationships with people, what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’?” For me this is the reason why relationships are so wonderful inspiring, challenging, expanding, reflective, joyful, truthful . . . all of this is only to remember me that we are all one.
To find true love we need time machine to go back in 80s 90s
Relationship these days are just to satisfy the lust they have
That is the problem when we start to diminish or bastardise the meaning of words. We lose the power and purpose these words can have for us on our evolution back to the truth that we are all one and interconnected, a way of being together that will heal all the atrocities we now see on many places in our societies.
“What do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back”. I felt, ‘of course’ when I read the root meaning. I find that relationships (despite current appearances in society) are designed to restore us back to our essence. Sitting in cave meditating may be peaceful but it is relationships where evolution and a return to the love we are occurs.
The word ‘relationship’ and its meaning ‘to bring back’ is so accurate, that in true relationship we evolve each other back to who we truly are, back to soul and living fully as Sons of God.
Thank you Gabriele for this wonderful exploration of what relationships are all about. It makes sense to me that relationships are a way to bring us back to truth because through relationships we are offered a reflection. We can either accept or reject the reflection but the offer is always there and available for us to grow from.
So true Elizabeth,the offer for deepening our relationship with ourself is always there if we choose to be open and grow from the relationships we develop with all of life and in special with all the people we meet.
Awesome blog, Thank You Gabriele. It makes me ponder on why our modern day understanding of relationship is so limited and closed. Could it be we have drifted so far away from living a true relationship that we may have perhaps conveniently forgotten what a true relationship means?
We most certainly have drifted far far from the truth of how relationships and intimacy can be, easily.
We have made our understanding of relationship exclusive; it suits us to understand it as the ‘one and only’ at the expense of the oneness that we come from and to the detriment of our joy and vivacity.
Even the question that gets asked “Are you in a relationship?” is based on intimacy and having a partner. However we are constantly in relationships every moment of the day… even if we are completely by ourselves, for we are in relationship with ourselves, our awareness, working etc.
‘to bring back’ that is just gorgeous Gabriele, that that is in fact what a relationship is, and it highlights something we often forget our relationships in whatever form are not just about those in the relationship but about a reflection for all.
Why do we get so excited at the prospect of a new physical/partner relationship or dating other people, but often lack this joy when it comes to meeting just ‘someone new’? All relationships have the possibility of bringing enormous magic to both people involved, and families, workplaces and communities too!
Beautifully said, Susie. Bringing the same care and attention to everyone we meet offers up the enormous potential that every interaction and relationship has, the quality of each impacting all the others.
This is a really good point. Every person we meet has the potential to bring enormous magic into our lives, we simply have to be open to them and magic happens. This cannot be understood from the theory – get right in there and give it a go!
A great blog, beautiful in its simplicity. And lovely that relationships come from this word that means to bring back; how relationships can support us to bring ourselves back to the love and truth that we are and thus restore harmony on a large scale.
If the original meaning of the word relationship is to bring back, then what are we bringing back? The truth that we are all equal, that no one relationship can be greater than another. And that if we hold within us certain qualities, it is our acceptance and lived experience of these qualities that we then bring to all of our relationships, and reflect to all others, as they do, equally, theirs to us.
Relationships are a connection and in truth we all are connected with each other. I agree we are in relationships constantly throughout our entire life and this is not just with a partner but with families, friends, work colleges, neighbours, communities and societies, they are forever changing as we change. But the most important relationship of all is the one with ourselves and this is the one I feel we have all abandoned in some way or another.
Gabriele my understanding of the word has also changed, I thought it was intimate and sexual and the thought of being in and having relationships with everyone sounded strange. Today I could not imagine a situation where everyone is not in relationship.
Such a great example of how we continue to bastardise and reduce the meaning of words from their true origins and all-encompassing perspectives. That’s not linguistic progress or inevitable morphing as is often cited. It’s instead a scaling down and devaluation of a wider understanding and potential that would otherwise be available to us.
I like that the simplicity of that separation is something made up, and that we are actually One. For then we also see that we are all connected and that relationships are unavoidable : being it the relationship you have with a friend or your favorite sport, we all have multiple relationships to all sorts of things as it can not be any other way, as we are all connected.
Thank you for sharing Gabriele, you have opened up the word relationship from the narrow and confined space of being intimate and involved with one person and shown how it is possible to have a relationship with everyone we meet.
If we minimise the expansion of true relationships in our lives we will lose the maximum growth and richness that we have on offer to connect, be and share life with one another everyday. Every connection is a relationship and there to support and or reflect something to be learnt, appreciated and confirmed and that is the true beauty of being in relationships with the all.
A relationship can be just a moment or a lifetime (or many) – catching someone’s eye in the street or simply walking down the street. We are in relationship with both the people in the street and the street. So if every moment we are in relationship, does it not then make sense that we need to be paying attention to the quality we are bringing to each moment. Otherwise our relationships are not going to be so great and life will feel pretty awful.
I didn’t know relationship meant to ‘bring back’ in latin. I so love that we use words like religion where their foundation of meaning is far truer than we know and how we are using the words. Yes, we may have strayed from the truth they allude to but that foundation remains and we can return to this truth. So when I hear relationship to me it alludes to a relationship having a quality whereby we can bring ourselves back to the oneness that we are and support others to do so too through this quality.
We are in constant relationship with our surroundings, be that with people or things. The way we move communicates and relates to the objects around us whether we are aware or not. I think the reason we have slowly moved away from this language is very deliberate. If we avoid honouring the fact we are in a relationship constantly, we can have times when we are on and when we are off. Times when we love and care for our partner and then times when we have road rage because we are stuck in traffic. This is why using the correct language actually supports us to remember that we are always in relationship and the only way to make our intimate relationship work is to be loving and intimate when we are stuck in that supermarket line or traffic jam. For in truth, there is no on and off switch, everything is felt by all.
Indeed. My understanding of relationship has definitely opened wide up since realising that it’s not just reserved for a special few. Every interaction is a relationship.
Its interesting how the word relationship has come to mean something special, unique… when in truth we are constantly in relationship with everyone and everything in the Universe. Its a way of diminishing the importance and responsibility we have in relationships.
It’s great to unpick the way the word ‘relationship’ has changed meaning over a few decades. I can feel how restrictive this is on every relationship that is not a “romantic one” as we have perhaps placed less value on them.
I love this reflection on relationships and it is so very true that we have limited this word very much to just one thing all the while, as you describe, we are in relationship all the time with everyone and everything.
“as to our relationships with people, what do we feel when hearing that the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ is ‘to bring back’?” great article Gabriele, thank you, bringing has back to our innate divine connection within the all that we are a part of.
It is a great practice suggestion to look at one relationship in our lives (even if it is for example our relationship with our phone or our computer) and to explore this. For example the other day I thought I had left my computer behind somewhere, and since I have a very intimate relationship with my computer, I began to feel a little panicked to realise I might not have my computer for a while – this showed me how much I rely on my computer, how much I use it all of the time, how much my life revolves around this little screen. That was a little scary to realise, but at the same time it allowed me to realise how much I also use the computer in order to have a relationship with people and the world. Funny that how everything is linked. In the end I found I had just misplaced by computer and my ‘fears’ were alleviated instantly, but it did give me a deeper appreciation of my computer and all that I can and do use it for. And It also made me aware to not become dependent on it nor to put it ahead of any other relationship in my life.
Gabriele, I love the way you have ‘exposed’ the word relationship – you are spot on, as in today’s world it seems to indicate a romance of some kind, but when we look at its true meaning it shows how narrowed a view that is, for we do have relationships all around all of the time, with ourselves to begin with, but then with all others as well as our cars, phones, computers etc.
Brilliant finishing note Gabriele- we are all one. The concept that we are in relationship with everything, which is shared by Serge Benhayon, opens up a whole new way at viewing life and our interaction with everything. There is nothing in this world that we don’t have a relationship with, how incredible is that? Being all one our every movement is in relationship with all.
This should be read far and wide, especially by single people who can find themselves desperate to be ‘in a relationship’. I know it because I was one, until my eyes were also opened up to the fact that I was already in lots of relationships, just not a sexual, romantic one. I was in a relationship with myself and with all of those around me and far and wide as well. It was quite a revelation to realise that and to live like that. It took the pressure of to be ‘in a relationship’ when I realised I was in hundreds!
I love the definition “bring back”. In relationship we are in constant reflection with each other. And as you suggest Gabriele we support each other to come back to our origins, Soul, through these constant reflections we are offered through each other in relationship.
This is a great great article and one of the best I have read for a while. It’s funny what is being said about relationships and the word and meaning as it’s so so true. It shows us that if we don’t keep bringing things back to a true foundation or base then their meaning can be diluted and in this case change to just a part of what it is. It’s reflective also to where we are as a world or race of people in as far as who we truly are and where we come from has been diluted and changed in our meaning as well. It’s great to see things return as all things do, every relationship returns as the article moves us towards and in fact now I can see the very word relationship is reflective for that in it’s origins.
If a relationship is to’ bring back’ to that which is our natural state within, then the most important one we can have is that with ourselves and our own evolution for it is only then that we can meet another with an understanding and openness of who they truly are.
It’s so true we have a relationship with everyone and everything including ourselves. All worthy of the deepest quality of responsibility and loving care.
We live in the great sea of humanity, where our every movement affects the movement of us all. It is our interconnectedness and way of relating to each other that ensures smooth sailing. In this context, the word relation-ship makes sense, as does all you so gorgeously share with us Gabriele.
Haha totally get this.. relation-ship in in the ocean of humanity, where our every move makes ripples and affects the all! Love it
Exactly. And to build on this, any great sea worthy vessel needs a crew on board that work together to ensure smooth sailing over stormy seas. To take the analogy further, before a great ship can be manned, it first needs to be built, and thus the whole workings of humanity are revealed, for there are those amongst us whose strength is to build the ship, others who help to man it and then those we need to steer it. We cannot do it all on our own and never were we designed to.
This makes so much sense and is quite profound Liane, it’s amazing that it inspires responsibility, and our responsibility to bring all that we know is our part to the equation.
As far as the eye can see is quite telling as often our eyes do not see what is there to be truly seen but rather what we perceive is true. Our perceptions are based on what we have experienced often from our hurts and are not indicative of how things will be but our perceptions taint how we are with others etc and often then life becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
I love this. Of course we have relationships with everyone we meet. We don’t need to reserve the word for a special someone.
Aren’t we in fact in a relationship with everything? For instance, we could have a positive relationship with work or a negative relationship with education – it’s the way we are with these relationships that can make life a struggle or not. But to narrow the word relationship down to have only a couple of meanings is another way to reduce our connection to each other.
Gabriele, as I read that you have discovered the root meaning of the word ‘relationship’ to mean ‘to bring back’ I get tears in my eyes…
I feel how far we have strayed in our relationship with ourselves, each other, with the All, with The All-One and ultimately with God.
I am ready and committed to revive/to bring back our True Relationship every day in my every interaction and in how I see and think about ‘others’, things, the world and the stars in the sky…
We’re constantly in relationship therefore it is vital we understand exactly what this word means.
Interesting how often we reduce the meaning of words diminishing their power. This is a bit of a reflection of life to me – in general it is a reduction of our power and of who we are in truth.
That’s so beautiful Gabriele, ‘….all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’ I don’t feel a question mark is needed here and this statement leaves no room for exclusiveness, every relationship has to come from a foundation within, the loving relationship we have with ourselves.
What a beautiful note to finish the blog on:
‘all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?’
All our relationships are constellations to support us back to this truth.
Spot on Monica – a gem from Gabriele, just like your words too!
Could it be the Sacred relationship we have with our-self has to be blossoming first before we can have the honesty to form any sort of activity with a-a-another?
I notice that often when a word is taken away from its true meaning it keeps us lesser. So too is it when we narrow the word relationship down to only meaning our intimate relationship with a man or a woman. It keeps us lesser because we don’t see that how we are with everyone every day, be it someone we meet on the street or in the supermarket, is just as important as how we are with our intimate partner and even more so how we are with one person is felt in all relationships.
I agree we do all have relationships with many people and different things and the quality of each of those relationships can vary according to how we approach different people and tasks or objects. Just recognising that there is a relationship there in the first place opens me up to the part I play in that relationship and in particular the purpose and quality that I’m bringing to it…
What a glorious flowing blog – well written Gabriele. I love the ending what a cracker. A well delivered and true message. We are all one – Are any of our relationships not that?..
Love the example Gabriele, a relationship is not limited to that which we call intimate or sexual with a partner, but is much more. Opening up to relationships in this bigger way – we can see that not only are people out there not just strangers but they are in fact people with deep deep wisdom and life experience.
No book can ever teach us the volume of wisdom that lives within every human being. Therefore if we truly want to be educated in life, then we must make it about people and not knowledge.
Yes we have a relationship with everything in life, which we cannot avoid.
This is so true Thomas, and when I look around I see so many people are trying very hard to avoid the fact that we all have a relationship with everything in life and I am guilty of this myself.
All our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one? Indeed they do Gabriele, and back to the absolute love that they so dearly deserve.
You raise a very worthy conversation here. As I read through this article, I could sense the way we value or class the relationships we have, deeming family to be more important than friends, friends more important than work colleges etc. We really have misinterpreted the true meaning of the word relationship if it’s core meaning is to ‘bring back’, reunite and again make one. Living, choosing to be the same in the company of all.
And perhaps ‘to bring back’ is to bring ourselves and each other back to the true love that is innate within us all.
By bringing ourselves back to the love, joy and wisdom innate within us, when we are relating with others, we inspire them to feel it within themselves and to also bring this love and harmony in their lives.
Beautiful way to reflect upon the relationships we have and what it all means. For a long time I only thought of a relationship as something I shared with a significant other or family member, that then evolved as I understood more about my relationship with me and started to cherish it.. nowadays, I’m reminding myself that I have a relationship with every single thing that is, can’t really be any boredom when this is embraced.
I love this Gabriele – a simple, profound, relatable and inspiring blog. You share a deep awareness of our connection with everything (relationship), whether we are aware of it or not. Every particle in our body is in relationship with every other particle (e.g. one expands and they all expand) and also in relationship with every other part of the body – how could we be anything but ALL ONE in every connection and relationship we have with others, whether for a moment or a lifetime(s).
“Could this meaning have something to do with the fact that deep down we know that, when it is all said and done, all our relationships need to come back to the truth that we are all one?”
By confining relationships to be those of a romantic and sexual nature we conveniently forget the true meaning of relationships and their true purpose. Each relationship in our life, and of course we will have hundreds if not thousands, are reflecting back to us another angle, another often minute but all important detail we need, to return again.
And how gorgeous to know that the true meaning of the word relationship is exactly that – to bring back.
Talk about minimising the meaning of words! Relationships feel grand seen in the extent of how many we truly have. Perhaps reducing the meaning to just one relationship absolves us seemingly from any responsibility with the quality of our relationships?
What a beautiful understanding of relationships and how prevalent they are in our lives with the amazing variety and mix of our daily activities as the core of our lives and the joy this brings to appreciate with everyone we touch or are touched by energetically. Thank you Gabriele.
Love your writing as always Gabriele – inspires me to ponder. Yes if relationship means to bring back and we are all one at essence, then relationships and our interactions with others are a wonderful reflection and opportunity to grow and evolve. In true harmony and connection we feel the joy, and in disconnection and disharmony we get to see what is not true and what comes between us and the harmony of oneness.
So true and as you say every relationship would be a reflection to return to it’s origins, return to one and so no matter what the relationship is, by definition it’s returning. So we can fight, ignore, turn away from, use etc etc relationships and all this can do is delay the inevitable and immutable return.
Relationships are the key to remind ourselves of where we come from. They are the development booster- no wonder, it is the most disturbed field, where people struggle and keep each other in delay. To keep it insular only supports the disturbance as it is only about that one person- which reflects not our nature which is seeing and living the responsibility we carry for everyone.
What we learn and develop with one we can then bring to all.
The lovely thing is, THIS is the purpose of being in relationship. It is not for US, but for the ALL.
I love how you you have coined relationships as the ‘development booster’. They absolutely are that- and that is the purpose of relationships. It is the reason why we are all here together – it is through the reflections we all bring to each other that we all heal what needs to heal so that all of us can return back to who we are.
If we restrict the meaning of relationship we restrict our way of being with others and we end up with a society where everyone is holding back.
Beautiful Gabrielle. In every relationship we can bring back connection, openness and transparency. Giving our all to everyone in our lives.
I love it, Carolien… this call to taking care of all our relationships. What I find interesting is that rather than this being an arduous duty and focus, it comes very naturally when I am first in a steady relationship with myself.
Great expose of another bastardisation of a word, there are so many! Love, Religion, Brotherhood, to name a few. Intimacy is in how we are with ourselves, our deep connection to the divine within and the sharing of that with anyone who has the grace to cross our path that day. Simple.
Our relationships extend further than with each other. Have we taken into consideration the relationships with items of clothing, the way we use our house hold appliances and the choice of movements to type replies to emails, text and other forms of communication.
Well Expressed