OSHER 176 - Relating Brings More than Relationship

We've all grown up seeing and experiencing relationships. Have you seen or felt jealousy, betrayal, boredom, hostility, anger, frustration, or sadness? We may then unwittingly associate ideas of ownership, obligation, being stuck or confined, deception, feeling overwhelmed, helpless, hurt, fearful, and small. Perhaps many of us carry underlying thoughts like "I am inadequate if I am not in a close relationship" or "I must be in a close relationship to make me happy" or "It's the weekend and I have no plans and no partner to share plans with anyway." Perhaps the very preconception of relationship closes out possibilities and becomes a fixed viewpoint: a relationship has to be like "this" but never like "that". Perhaps the joy we've been missing can be uncovered by questioning ideas we've grown up with, and then replacing them with a vibrant aliveness that can rise out of simply relating with people we like and love without an agenda.