The need for validation in a relationship

How many times have your thoughts, feelings, and behavior been ignored by people in your life. When you have a disturbing thought or situation in your life, has someone tried to get you to resolve the issue and move on before you were ready?

For relationships to stay strong and healthy, each person in a relationship must recognize and demonstrate understanding of the other's thoughts, feelings and behavior. We must also demonstrate these skills with our children, or they will grow up invalidated and unable to sustain healthy relationships. Many people do find relationships to be difficult and invalidating in our society.

We need to change this trend and role model validation. That does not mean that we accept people no matter what. With validation must come change if behavior hurts people. You will see more success moving someone towards change if you validate where they are presently.