Cultivating Vibrant Relationships Individual Impact (Part 1)

Our relationships are what define the quality of our life experience. It is not always convenient to admit or require needing someone else. Still, we do! Knowing this, we should feel compelled to make relationships a force of positivity in our lives, whether they are of a personal or professional nature.

Vibrant relationships are what give all our lives pizzazz, emotional connectivity, and relevance. Who can excel in life without this? There is no answer to this question that is easy to come by.


Our most vibrant relationships take place in many forms and play important roles in different areas of our life. This includes what happens with our:

  • Education
  • Intimate life with a spouse
  • Family’s connectivity
  • Professional support and ambitions
It is time to highlight the importance of each of these areas.

Education
You would not be alone if you did not recognize the importance of a vibrant relationship between student and teacher/mentor/coach. It is quite beautiful when orchestrated well. To do this, one must be aware of the nuances that impact the experience from an early age. Some of these factors include:
  • Poverty
  • Perceived potential
  • External influences
The way to overcome these deterrents, from childhood all the way through university, includes three components as referenced by Megan Tschannen-Moran and Davis Clement, In the ASCD Educational Leadership research.
These are:
  • Enliven minds
  • Embolden voices
  • Playful learning
When this type of accountability begins at the earliest stage of education possible, better outcomes are generated.
The ASCD Educational Leadership research also states:
"The accountability movement in schools has brought a needed focus to issues of equity and achievement in schools.”
It is from this ability to bring out our potential from the earliest ages that strong and empowered leaders of the future are bred.
This insatiable thirst to gain knowledge in your life is a cornerstone of future success and a positive mindset for achievement. By remembering that regardless of where you are in your educational journey today, continuing to pursue education and knowledge throughout your life can take you to even greater successes.

Intimacy
There is no greater opportunity to experience genuine love and connectivity than with the person with whom you are choosing to spend your life. This can take work and that is what makes it so rewarding. If a relationship were always easy it would not be valued as much nor would it have the chance to reach a vibrant and robust state.

The National Library of Medicine shares these insights as to why research has shown that intimacy should never be undervalued in life.(Gayle M. Timmerman (1991) A concept analysis of intimacy, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 12:1, 19-30, DOI: 10.3109/01612849109058207).

  1. Intimacy is identified as being important to the psychosocial development of adults.
  2. Through intimacy, a developmental role in identity is established, thereby offering consensual validation of personal worth by providing an individual with the opportunity to feel understood and accepted as they are.
  3. Research reveals that married couples reporting a deficiency or absence of intimacy are at greater risk of symptoms of nonpsychotic emotional illness.
  4. A failure to develop intimacy is a leading reason why someone needs to seek outpatient psychotherapy.
  5. Intimacy is critical to a person’s satisfaction with their social support.

Without that intimacy, you will struggle to experience those moments with another individual in which you grow and become stronger.

Family
Families are brilliant for many reasons, but knowing you have a loving and nurturing environment is perhaps the most important. It should also be mentioned that if your biological family is not this source, those who love and care for you can be. Blood does not have to be tied to the blessings you can receive from love and support.

It is quite common to have parents and children with different guiding forces these days. There are so many questions to contemplate.

  • University now or later?
  • Stay at home or move out?
  • Follow in parents' footsteps or blaze your own path?

These are just a few examples of questions that parents, and their children go through as life progresses. There will be differences and disagreements—which is okay so long as a vibrant sense of outcome still remains.

As parents, one must realize that the values they were raised on have a place in today’s world, just as new opportunities that broaden and expand a child’s mind have a place. Everyone can be empowered in their own way.

Professional Pursuits
Work is an important part of life. Everyone will experience this as they grow older and into the careers that will essentially become a part of their identity. This is why identifying with excellence will matter and the pathway to doing this is to feel energy and vibrancy about what it is you are choosing to do. After all, it will make a difference to you and your opportunities, as well as to those around you, and even your community.

Graham Lowe, author of Creating Healthy Organizations: How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees to Achieve Sustainable Success, states:

"Creating Healthy Organizations provides executives, managers, human resource professionals, and employees an action-oriented approach to forging these connections by creating and sustaining vibrant and productive workplaces. A healthy organization operates in ways that benefits all stakeholders, including employees, customers, shareholders, and communities.”

What we do in our workplace matters and impacts the greater good of what is happening around us. We must remember this and use it as inspiration to bring our best to work every day.

To demonstrate leadership, whether of one’s self or a group,
you must understand the importance of creating a vibrant connection. This is how humans serve humanity.

Talal I. El-Assaad

The processes of education, intimate relationships, family, and professional satisfaction can either create a vibrant opportunity to positively impact life or a lack of desire to participate fully in what life can offer. The choice about which one you take will impact more than just yourself.