When you hear the word relationship the first thing that probably comes to your mind is, two people coming together under the banner of love. Or maybe, you imagined a platonic relationship with a friend of yours.

Either way, when we usually think of relationships we think human to human, but what if that’s just one of the many categories of relationships?

If you think about it, there’s an underlying relationship between us and everything we interact with. We have a relationship with our cars, our phones, our plants, and even our creativity.

Some of us have good relationships with the different components of our world, and others not so much.

For example, my relationship to my creativity over the years has been an interesting one. On one hand, it’s brought many moments of pure expression that has led to the creation of many things I am proud of.

While on the other hand, we’ve also went through many rough patches and spent long stretches of time not speaking to one another, all because I was being a bad partner, and all my creativity was doing, was reflecting that back.

Now, imagine you had a friend you called only when you wanted something. You would probably imagine that relationship wouldn’t last very long, right?

Of course.

If all you did was use your friend for what they had, and what they could do for you, why on earth would they want to spend anytime with you?

This is exactly what I did with my friend that is Creativity.

I made demands, and put it to work trying to squeeze out every last dollar, until suddenly, they stopped showing up. My creativity hated its environment, so it left.

But now, they’re back, and we’ve repaired what we had between us. I’m putting less pressure on them now, and we’re enjoying spending time together again. It’s wonderful.

No longer do I demand them to work, they show up because they want to be here. There’s now a mutual respect between us that builds the foundation for a strong relationship, and like any good relationship, you need space, time, and understanding of one another if you want to make it work.

It might sound crazy, but if you are kind, and genuinely care about your creativity, or perhaps your car, your computer, or even your clothes, you’re going to show much more respect towards that thing, and in-turn it will do the same back towards you.

If you show up for it, it will show up for you.

But, if you take, take, take, soon there will be nothing left.

Thinking beyond just human to human relationships can help foster a greater awareness and appreciation of our inner and outer world. When we take care of our things inside and outside of us, with the realisation that these were never really our things in the first place, and actually just things we get to experience, we allow the space needed for them to take care of us.

And much like our relationships with people, you don’t need to be friends with everyone.

I Love You Earth,

Jet