Speaker A
Hi, there. My name is Eugenia Streletskaya. I'm a psychotherapist. And today, if you want to have a healthy and happy relationship, you should listen very carefully. Because I'm going to give you three absolutely unquestionable, but unfortunately, little-known principles on which is built the foundation of absolutely any successful relationship. And the first principle says you have to work on your relations. A lot of people ask me, "Well, how come... well, you know... why is that? Why do we have to work on relations? I mean, isn't it so that we can spontaneously have healthy psychological contact? So! We've met someone whom we like, someone who is cool, and they express themselves how they are in our relationship, they are themselves and I am being myself, too. Well, why can't it be that our relationship forms itself like an idyll, a harmony, and be prosperous? And some people say, 'Okay, well, what if relations turn into work and labour? Wouldn't that be artificial? Wouldn't it be insincere? Isn't that gonna kill all of the pure love?' Someone else says, 'Come on! How is it so I must work on my relationship? I spent all this energy, effort, to find my partner. So I thought that everything after I found him, it's like all the work is over. And I'll be resting, enjoying, and having pleasure. But it seems the most important stuff is only just starting? Nooo. I don't want that. It'll be too hard then there's no point having a relationship if we need to constantly work on them. I want to work at my job, and in relationships, I want to relax.' Retorts are many on this topic, but today I'm going to tell you exactly what it means to correctly work on a relationship and all your doubts on them will disappear. And here's the thing. Let's get this straight first and deal with the question of whether it's possible that two people meet and spontaneously between them appears healthy contact. Yes. Of course, it's quite possible, but... just not 100%. What is it like? How is it possible? So you, with this person, should be relatively similar to each other, that is, on the level of intellect, the level of emotional development, on certain views, on certain tastes, on certain ideals, values, that you should both have, naturally, matching so that you both look in the same direction. side. But you must also be different, partially. How should you differ? You should differ in your psychological problems and healthy parts. That is, where you have some kind of psychological problem, with your person, your partner, this part is healthy. And where you're healthy and psychologically, they have a problem. And like this, our own personalities are multifaceted. Our identity consists of a lot of features, and so on and so forth. It works out like this it all adds up, and it creates harmony. You heal each other. In normal relationships, healthy, fun, they always contribute to development, precisely because healthy parts and psychological problems are different and your partner may be spontaneously performing a psychotherapeutic role and function. For example, you have a deep feeling of guilt, and your partner doesn't have it. And they're showing you through their example that to experience it is impractical. He's helping you to get rid of it. Or, for example, you have a sexual problem, and your partner has no sexual problem, and they help you to overcome it. Or your partner is lazy, uh, they don't have such willpower, while you, on the contrary, are a very disciplined hard-working person. And so you can show your partner how to do that. Or maybe he is very... closed, unemotional, and you're very emotional. You two balance each other. You're very sociable, let's say. Yeah, that happens. Oh, this principle, for me, is illustrated by the metaphor from Kipling's fairy tale: The beginning of the Armadillo. There were two protagonists Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog, and the Slow-and-Solid Tortoise. And there was Painted Jaguar out there that was hunting them and he wanted to eat them, Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog. who was curled up into a ball to counteract the Painted Jaguar. Jaguar throws him in the water, then the hedgehog would open and became defenseless, and the jaguar could eat him. And the jaguar could dig the turtle out of her shell when she was on land. And so the hedgehog and the turtle decided to unite. And the turtle was supposed to teach hedgehog to swim, so he can even in the water remain invulnerable to the jaguar. And the hedgehog teaches turtle to roll up into a ball so that the jaguar couldn't pull it out of the shell. And so they were studying, showing, training studying, with them happened miraculous changes. Unbelievable. The hedgehog's spines were all smoothed out, became smoother, harder, and firmer, like into a single shell due to constant contact with water. While the turtle - the opposite - the shell opened up and sections became more individual, and bristly. Because she made her shell very flexible. Okay, so the next time Jaguar met Hedgehog and turtle they weren't hedgehog and turtle anymore. They were already like two acrobat brothers, like twins, completely different from their original selves, but very similar to each other. They've essentially turned into one thing. They became armadillos. That's where armadillos came from. And for me, it's a great example, because when two people meet, they're dating, and at first they're very different. But then, while they're in touch, they take from each other effective behavior. They become very similar to each other. They get very close, they're becoming relatives, two best friends. Like brother and sister. Well, we're talking about a heterosexual couple. It's the best situation. But in life, to be 100% is still impossible, because in our childhood, our parents with the help of upbringing - dysfunctional, emotional schemes and they can't contribute to a 100% match. We can with each other, in real-life circumstances, coincide, but only 70%. The other thirty are will be spike against spike. And emptiness faces emptiness. Already here, you can't resolve each other's problems. And it's these spikes that are the ones that collide with each other, they will serve as a source of all sorts of conflicts, miscommunication, i.e. misunderstanding, and of all sorts of troubles and disagreements. Which is why, after all on relationships you need to work in order to keep the 70% purity, clarity, and coincidence, and healthy contact. And this 30% will reduce in level and turn into healthy contact, too. And what do I mean by to work on a relationship? No, I'm not saying they're supposed to be constantly, very dreary labour, work, foul, boredom, and just ugh. When you guys are out there digging into each other you're remodeling each other, and you're turning the relationship into psychotherapy. No, not in any case. It's all about the fact that you relate to your partner attentively, responsibly, out of concern. Just like, for example, if you get yourself a flower, then you of course realize that you have to and will be watering regularly to take care of it. Wipe its leaves. Or if you're getting yourself a cat, right, you do realize that you have to feed it every day. And if he becomes ill, he's gonna have to be taken to the vet. You can't just disappear for a month to go somewhere and leave him at home alone because he's gonna die of hunger and thirst. And everything in our lives is arranged like this. When we want something to have something, we have to do this. If you want to have a good profession, you'll develop in it professionally. All the time you read books on the subject, you're constantly asking some of your older colleagues for some advice you grow in this field. In any field. In our lives, it's exactly like that. Sorry, guys, it's labour. It's not simply some vacation where we sit there and hey, do nothing. Yeah, for everything in our lives, we have to fight. And what do I mean when I say to work on a relations?