People and relationships
Human beings are social animals, and we generally choose to live our lives with others around us, be they friends, family or work colleagues. In a work setting, you often come across people you would not normally choose to be with. This presents both opportunities and challenges, and many of the issues that arise in organisations have their origins in personality clashes, or misunderstandings between people.
Over the many years we have had the privelage of being invited to work with different organisations, we have come to realise that the ‘bottom line’ about relationships is, that as much as you might want someone else to change the way they speak and behave, the best thing you can do is to change the way you react and respond to that person or situation.
People are messy and complex beings, and we are not advocating that someone who is victimising others and behaving inappropriately be allowed to continue, however, we do believe that when people move into a negative space about others, it is often very difficult to change, as negativity feeds upon itself and, sadly, becomes the normal way to react to everything. Not only is this tragic, it is also very draining and wearing for all involved.
We feel it is important to invest in ourselves and to spend time thinking about and supporting yourself to do the things you want to do and enjoy the life you lead. With that in mind, we have provided some links to the websites and ideas that we find give us not only inspiration, but practical advice on dealing with others.
Zen Habits: a great site which we dip into regularly. Zen Habits features one or two powerful articles a week on: simplicity, health & fitness, motivation and inspiration, frugality, family life, happiness, goals, getting great things done, and living in the moment.
The Happiness Institute: this provides access to the learnings about positive psychology and has a host of resources you can access, some you have to pay for, others are free. Siwan has done the Executive Certificate in Positive Psychology so talk to her if you want to know more about the course and whether it might be for you.
20 May 2011 10:38 am
