Life’s Three Responses
What if choosing a single response would resolve 100% of your relationship problems?
I understand feeling overwhelmed by the problems of relationships.
I have a method that will tell you everything you need to know to resolve interpersonal relationships and enhance your connection with others.
Because without a method to resolve your interpersonal relationships, you tarnish relationships and leave problems unresolved. So here’s your plan for resolving your relationships.
(1) Learn Life’s Three Responses
Psychologist Alfred Adler of the early 1900s determined there are only three responses to problems in interpersonal relationships. They are the following:
- “That bad person.”
- “Poor me.”
- “What should I do from now on?”
Response (1) and (2) are often chosen. Choosing response (3), on the other hand, is to accept the principles I discussed in How You Should Let Go of the Past.
These principles, to sum up, say the future is all one should and can focus on. Thus, responses (1) and (2) focus on the past, the uncontrollable; response (3) focuses on the future, what you can control.
(2) Choose “the Good” Response
“Good and bad” or “right and wrong” are often under-defined and abused labels. (I’ll dedicate a post to this.)
By their Ancient Greek definitions — the birthplace of philosophy — good is “of benefit” and bad is “not of benefit.” Right and wrong, on the other hand, are subjective labels; they are equivalent to saying something sinful.
“That bad person” and “poor me,” in addition to being futile thinking, are responses that coincide with a belief in right and wrong. Therefore, they result in dead-end or obsessive thoughts. “What should I do from now on” focuses one’s attention on what might be of benefit or not of benefit, and thus can be considered “the good” response by comparison.
(3) Watch Your Relationships Resolve
By choosing response (3), we take into consideration the past constructively; we take control of what we can control. We move past blame and get to the heart of issues we feel with our co-workers, friends, and loved ones.
Imagine relationships no longer blaming others, no longer blaming yourself, and resolving your issues.
Life has only three responses. Choose “the good” response today.
