Our relationship with ourselves is the pen that writes the story of our relationships. The pendulum of relationships can swing between utter frustration and helplessness to sheer joy and ecstasy. Relationships are mirrors, reflections of our internal world.
What we see when in others is often the pieces of ourselves that remain unhealed or unseen. Where we seek validation from others, we lack self love. Where we want someone to put in effort to show us we matter, we may lack the capacity to offer our own existence the reverence we deserve. To burden others, to mold others to become what we need them to be to appease our internal wounds isn't love. Its a transaction. It's the uncomfortable dance of asking others to shrink themselves so we don't bring awareness to our internal pain and in exchange we sacrifice pieces of ourselves to appease others.
Until we realize this truth of how we navigate relationships and bring awareness into our internal world, relationships remain the a reactive state of existence where we judge others on their actions but want to validated for our intentions. The complexity of our outer relationships is within. It all becomes simple once we turn the gaze inwards to ourselves. We realize the beauty of our relationships and the nightmare is all within us.