by Vanesha Corley

Created on: May 20, 2009

No matter who you are life is pretty complex. One of the biggest factors for that complexity is the relationships that we harbor throughout our life. The quality of one's life is a direct result of the quality of the relationships we have surrounding us. That being said, detoxifying your relationships is essential to your overall growth, productivity and happiness.

Every process begins with a defining step that sets the tone for everything that follows. This step is deciding who you are and what you want. Included in this step would be goals, dreams and aspirations. Once you can decide this, you will set a standard of what kind of relationships to entertain and dedicate time to.

In our lives, we have all had negative people around us with destructive behavior patterns. For us to not incorporate those habits into our lives, we must distance ourselves from those who mean us no goodwill. That would be the second step of the process. Do not be deceived for this can get very tricky! This is due to the fact that some of those destructive relationships have good beneficial qualities, sometimes! The problem with this is that it is usually temporary and there may be hidden agendas by the other person because they need something from you.

When it is painfully obvious that certain relationships are toxic, you must then decide if there is any hope for the relationship to reverse itself or if it is just a lost cause. If the result is a lost cause, move on and find good, healthy relationships that compliment you and your life. If the relationship can be saved, formulate a plan on how to communicate this with the person and together identify the toxic and turn it to non-toxic. Depending on the parties involved, this can be accomplished very, easily.

How certain relationships affect you mentally, emotionally, physically, and even, spiritually, are the most important things when determining the quality of the relationship. The relationship should support all those things in a positive way and if it does not, it simply must be removed.

Detoxifying your relationships means detoxifying your life. Removing the unhealthy means to make room for the healthy. At the end of the day, it's all about looking back on your life and knowing you made tough decisions, but ultimately, they were right and complimentary to you. Maximize your life and detoxify!

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