Are YOU an approval seeking machine?

Do you go through life forever seeking love, appreciation and approval from others?

Well, if so then welcome to the human race. We all seem to be genetically programmed to seek from others what we feel we don’t have within ourselves.

Today is the 28th and last day of our relationships adventure, which began on 1st February. You can read the previous 27 articles via the links at the bottom of this article.

How have your relationships improved over the last month?

My idea was to go through all the key aspects of our relationships and share my ideas and tips to improve all the relationships in your life.

Life is meant to be an adventure and so are our relationships. And that’s the approach I wanted to adopt for this month.

I wanted to show you how all your interactions with other people can be light, fun and joyous. And I hope that you are doing just that.

If not, then you know where to find 28 great relationship articles:-)

Remember always that the key to great relationships is this – nurture the roots of your relationships and one day you can enjoy the fruits of your efforts.

My intention was that within these 28 days, all of you will have significantly improved your relationships. You should now have a lightness about you, and you approach all interactions with the people in your life in a different way.

All good things come to an end and I have enjoyed my adventure of writing these articles over the last four weeks. Indeed some of my own relationships have been transformed – and others are a work in progress.

This relationship adventure has been very popular with readers – and there is a suggestion that I should convert these 28 articles into an ebook. Watch this space:-)

For today’s article, as well as discussing our need for approval from others,  I would like to share with you some other key relationship articles, both from my own blog and also from other bloggers.

Let’s start with the importance of not seeking approval from others all the time.

Spare yourself from seeking love, approval, or appreciation—from anyone. And watch what happens in reality, just for fun.Byron Katie

So much of our life energy is spent on getting approval from others. Most of us are simply approval seeking machines!

Imagine what your relationships would be like if you didn’t constantly seek love, approval or appreciation from anyone!

If you pause and reflect on this, you will realise that almost everything you do is to seek love and acceptance from others. But the moment you cease to do so, you are free.

You suddenly get a boost of energy and you are no longer held back by the fear of what others think.

At the same time, it’s okay to appreciate others for what they are and what they do.

Just don’t base your entire life on what others think of you.

For today, just try this. Say or do what you want because you want to do so and not because you want something from someone.

See how much easier your life becomes once you stop being an approval seeking machine!

Know that you are already enough.

Now to round up our relationship journey, I would like to send you away with some more key and really useful relationship articles from my blog.

I suggest that you bookmark these articles and also the 27 other posts from our relationship adventure – you will want to refer to them again and again.

These articles are some of the best and most poignant I have ever written and I invite you to read through them all in your own time – but make sure you do so soon:-

  1. How to Stop Being a Drama Queen and Become Happy Instead
  2. How to be Annoyingly Positive and Still Keep your Boring Friends!
  3. 2 Empowering Words We All Like to Hear Again and Again
  4. How to Embrace Loneliness and Blossom
  5. Why You Are So Insignificant You Might As Well be Dead!
  6. Why you Should Always Look for the Talent in Others
  7. Honour and Love Your Mother Every Day, Not Just on Mother’s Day
  8. Honour and Love Your Father Every Day, Not Just on Father’s Day
  9. 10 Ways to Deal with Really Difficult People without Becoming One Yourself
  10. 10 Ways to Turn a Boring Relationship into a Party of Love
  11. Why Getting Your Blog Hacked Is Not the End of the World
  12. How To Embrace Loneliness and Blossom
  13. How to Live with Acceptance and Friendship Every Day
  14. Become Human, Take a Bus Journey
  15. Lessons in Life from 87 Year Old Man who Gatecrashed our Family Wedding

To end I would like to leave you with these powerful words from Dr Bernie Seagal.

“Love has all the advantages of amnesia”

No matter what happens to you and your relationships from here on, love is the most powerful thing. And love is always forgiving, eternal and ever-powerful.

Love is all that matters

Go forth gently on your life journey with a heart full of love for yourself and others.

And never, ever seek approval from anyone!

become a swan of love!

Here’s the Daily Exercise for Today:-

Today’s exercise is for you to become aware of just how much of your time and energy is tied up with looking for approval, appreciation and love from others.

For the next 24 hours, check in on yourself when you are about to do or say something.

Ask yourself – what am I really trying to do here? Where am I seeking something from others? How can I do this from a space of my own power?

Enjoy being your own person!

 

Images courtesy of maveric2003 and Kjunstorm