Superpowers with no-strings-attached

I’m convinced that all humans have superpowers and when deployed, we have the capacity to radically transform for good our immediate circle of influence.

Hospitality is a superpower. As powerful as opening our home to guests and strangers is, it goes beyond that. It’s opening our hearts to all whom we encounter. It’s simple friendliness, a no-strings-attached welcome to all. 

Generosity is a superpower. It’s instinctive to share, to give, to alleviate burdens for others. When we extend this natural gift to those who least expect it from us, it elevates natural generosity into a superpower. It’s planned, no-strings-attached sharing of time and resources. 

Listening is a superpower. When we offer people undistracted, no-phone-glancing attention and hang onto every word someone says, we validate his or her story, his or her existence, and our own. It’s a no-strings-attached gift proclaiming “I see, hear and value you” in an often cold and indifferent world. 

Our capacity to treat all other people as equals (which we are) and with respect (which all people deserve) is a superpower. We can learn powerful and important lessons from anyone and everyone. This no-strings-attached acknowledgment of the treasures within all people, respects and elevates and empowers all.

What relationships are “beyond” repair? What about forgiveness and reconciliation?

Relationships are beyond repair when there has been any kind of violence. This includes emotional violence, sexual violence, physical violence. Repair is also unlikely where there has been pointed cruelty in the form of abandonment, betrayal, infidelity, demeaning or vicious behaviors. 

Reconciliation, as in getting back together, where such behaviors have occurred, is probably not impossible – miracles do happen – but it is usually not wise. Toxic behaviors – as listed –  are likely to reoccur when anxiety, stressors and stress, which are part of all relationships, return. No matter how deep or profound the change which facilitated forgiveness and reconciliation may have been, former behaviors are likely to resurface in the face of common life pressures. 

Even in the most extreme situations forgiveness may be possible. With enough time and distance and experience while under the spell and power of bitterness and resentment and its work within he or she who withholds grace and forgiveness, victims often welcome the relief and freedom which forgiveness delivers. He or she who has already been a victim often sees that holding on or staying angry becomes yet another form of emotional abuse. 

But, forgiving does not mean the relationship will or must continue.

Respect, trust, confidence – these treasures are intertwined, inseparable – are the life-blood of all healthy relationships. They are the “fresh air” and sunshine and vitamins of friendships, be they romantic or professional or platonic, or anything in between. 

Once lost or defiled, respect, trust, and confidence are very difficult, but not impossible. to reclaim or rebuild. 

While there are endless ways relationships are ruined, where trust is broken and confidence is defiled, and respect has been lost, repair is a rather simple, but not an easy journey.

Repair begins with humility, acknowledgment and apology. 

These elements are required of all parties, not only the person who is regarded as the offender. The person who has broken trust requires the humility to acknowledge damaging actions and the courage to apologize in order to find repair and begin to restore respect. But, reconciliation and repair will be impossible if the offended lacks humility and is unwilling to enter discussions with the possibility of reconciliation in mind. 

It takes two (or more) to tangle and two (or more) to untangle if indeed untangling is desired.

Not all broken relationships have to be fixed, but if one that has caused you pain is going to be fixed, it will require humility and respect and trust and confidence to set things in motion – even if all these treasured and intertwined elements were once defiled.

The importance of point of view and attitude cannot be understated. It influences just about everything you do each day. Decisions made at the beginning of the day, some simple and some more difficult and even painful, can set positive outcomes in motion. 

Here are “healthy confessions” for the day if you care to use them as a starting point:  

Just for today I will begin with a clean slate. I will give myself and others a fresh start and burden none of us with the unfinished annoyances or grievances of the past. 

Just for today I will aim for a bird’s eye-view on my family and all of my important relationships. This gives me a greater chance of avoiding off-the-cuff and harmful reactions and it will assist me to hold back on hurtful and unnecessary comments. 

Just for today I will live from a “yes” platform rather than default to “no.” I will do this when it comes to opportunities for learning and advancement. I will say “no” to what I already know to be unhealthy for others and for me. 

Just for today (tomorrow will have its own fresh opportunities) I will compliment others rather than criticize. I will focus on the good in others and be quick to affirm what I see.  

Knowing some others is by necessity casual and without intimacy. 

We live busy lives among lots and lots of people and so it is anticipated that many of our relationships will be and remain platonic. 

A form of tragedy, and I do not use the term lightly, is when our most intimate relationships get stuck in little more than a platonic rut. 

And, of course the most intimate behaviors can remain platonic and mechanical and lack any depth of authentic human connection. 

This is surely a definition of loneliness? 

Knowing another at growing depth is no easy privilege or joy. When approaching the success of really getting to know someone, we seldom arrive, but when it does, it is indeed both a privilege and joy.

It may hold the essence of happiness. 

Entering the world of another takes patience, time, commitment, love, wisdom and tenacity. 

It is not that others are so elusive, evasive or enigmatic. 

The problem is that it is so very hard to know ourselves.

It remains true: the highest hurdle to knowing you is knowing me. 

I must do the work it takes to know me, so I may even begin to be interested in knowing you.

The depths of your grief and disappointments, the nucleus of your joys, will remain foreign to me while I am unwilling to delve into my own.    

Differentiation of Self is central to my approach to therapy.

This is a term coined by the pioneer of the Science of Family Therapy, Dr. Murray Bowen.

Bowen, a psychiatrist, tired of treating individuals for what was, to Bowen, clearly a family or a group issue. Bowen would hospitalize an entire family because one member displayed mental health issues.

Dr. Bowen believed that emotional, mental health, and family problems were not “inside” the symptom bearer – the person who was said to be ill – but rather the “problem” resided within the relationships of the family or group.

Differentiation of Self is the capacity to:

• Remain and individual while also being an integral part of a larger group.
• Be responsible for one’s own life and choices.
• Stay committed to important relationships in the face of disagreement and conflict.
• Express thoughts, preferences, agreements and disagreements, despite natural group or family pressures to avoid and conform.
• Remain on track and committed to goals while respecting maintaining relationships with important others who would rather you were less ambitious, vocal, healthy.

Murray Bowen observed that the key to a family’s health was the person (or persons) who were working on their levels of differentiation.