This is not a simple area. The complexities of human relationships cannot be reduced to just a few words of generalisation. Each of us is a unique individual. We have had unique upbringing – even, I would argue, twins, triplets and so on, because of the uniqueness of each.
We will throughout the course of our lives encounter other unique individuals. So two people describing a third person will focus on different attributes, depending on how they each perceive the third person, and also on how each of the two feels that other people think about them.
How do you cope with someone who is being difficult, unreasonable or unloving? Are they in fact being so, or is that how they normally are but your perception has changed because of how someone else behaved towards you in the past? Then there are the big questions you may be facing, such as the level of trust in the relationship, or what it actually means to love someone.
Of course, the range of people with whom we will have a relationship is very broad. Parents, siblings, life partners, colleagues, neighbours, even God. And a relationship with one person may affect how another person relates to you if the two don’t get on!
The form of counselling I practice is based on a relationship – a working or therapeutic relationship between me and a client. I will offer each person a level of psychological and emotional hospitality to the extent that the person hopefully feels accepted and valued. From the quality of this relationship comes the freedom to explore your feelings.