If you enjoy high quality relationships and wish to see more of them in your life, then be sure to maintain a healthy mental image towards all. By “all” I mean your enemies, yourself, all human beings, nature and all creation. What you hold in your mind, even the back of your mind, is what fills your heart. What you carry in your heart spreads to your surroundings, even your loved ones.
When you make a firm decision to carry a positive mental image of all, or a loving inner attitude towards all, then you fill your heart with positivity which has an unspoken, uplifting effect on all those you come into contact with. This is a challenging life work. It is tough because we learn to hold different people in different lights. We learn to have a different mental image of people, depending on whether their behavior patterns line up with our expectations. Even if we’ve learned to treat all people with kindness, that may not be enough. Our kindness probably has an “inner limit” which can be exceeded. Or our kindness may only be a facade, when deep inside we sponsor other feelings.
Its what is deep inside which determines the quality of your relationships, not the superficial behaviors we act out. If you take this idea to an extreme, you will see it is true. For example, if someone has deeply hurt your feelings and you wish to forgive them and be able to enjoy their presence again, to be successful you will have to cultivate a healthy mind towards them. If when they are absent you think of them negatively, or worse yet talk about them negatively, then the next time you are face to face you will be unable to look them straight in the eye and speak kindly to them. If you attempt to be friendly, it will feel awkward and fake, because your kindness is fake.
If however you chose to really forgive and let go, and prove it by only choosing thoughts and words that you could speak to their face, even when they are absent, then you will find it easy to look them in the eye the next time you encounter them. If you chose to forgive and love them, until you can give them a long, gentle hug, then your love has the potential to work magic. The biggest challenge you may encounter on this endeavor is deeply healing your mind’s image of that person. Once successful then your heart will harbor only kindness towards that person. Kindness flowing from one heart to another, is a form of communication that can disarm even the most guarded person, because all beings love to be loved.
Heal all your enemies which such a practice and you will find your mind body and spirit relax. You will have discovered a rare ability to unlock the positive potential in others. You will learn to see the human being in another, when they may have lost touch with it themselves. You will have learned to call out the spirit in another using only your love and your trusting presence. As you heal your relationships, one at a time, you will feel yourself open up. There will be nothing and no one to avoid, or hide from. You will get a taste of true freedom and come to know just how valuable it is to cultivate a healthy mind towards all.