Five Overarching Fundamentals for Robust Relationships

Enjoy this excerpt from Life Lessons from Motorcycles, 75 Tips for Robust Relationships- just in time for Valentine’s Day! Download the entire ebook for free. 

One need look no further than the relationship between motorcycle and rider to glimpse what is as close to a perfect relationship as there is. It has to be. Aside from the initial passion that draws them together, learning to work together is a matter of survival.

A relationship that thrives is dependent on understanding the other’s needs, effective communication, and sharing a common goal. Healthy relationships create joy, harmony, and a sense of well-being. Partners travel, have fun together, and belong to a community of like-minded others.

Together, solid relationships are more productive than the sum of the individuals and can accomplish greater feats. They evolve and strengthen over time as partners get to know each other and add life experiences.

Humans thrive on healthy relationships. We need to connect with others for survival, happiness, commerce, and abundance. Many wonderful experiences occur because of the people we share them with.

The following five principles form a solid foundation upon which to build, maintain, and enjoy robust relationships.

5 Overarching Fundamentals for Robust Relationships

1. Love. There’s an unmistakable passion between rider and motorcycle that sets the stage for a robust relationship. Apply that approach to life. Before you can love another, you must love yourself. Before you can serve your purpose, you must love yourself. You need to create your own happiness before you can share it with someone else.

2. Trust. Whether it’s applied to the relationship between motorcycle and rider, amongst riders, or with yourself, trust is fundamental to the safety and enjoyment of everyone on the road. Damage it and it can take a long time to rebuild. Sometimes the best solution when trust is broken, especially in the short-term, is to remove yourself from the situation and go it alone while things resolve.

3. Respect. It’s unquestionable that a rider must revere the power and needs of the bike. In life, empathy, active listening, and respecting the other person’s perspective gets things out in the open and clears potential misunderstandings before they become an issue. It presents an opportunity to clarify your perception and consider information you may not have thought of or been aware of.

4. Vulnerability. The openness of riders to the world as they ride down the road, instills feelings of independence and freedom. That same openness leaves them unprotected and vulnerable to hurt. Opening up to another about what’s going on in your mind and heart, trusting the other person enough to take a personal risk, and revealing your challenges draws people closer together. Working together towards a common end strengthens and intensifies the bond.

5. Work. Relationships don’t just happen, even those between bike and rider. Those that thrive do so because everyone involved worked hard at sorting out differences and nourishing the relationship.

Lessons that motorcycles teach us enhance relationships of all sorts, whether the connection is personal or professional, with an individual or within a group. And remember—just because a relationship doesn’t last forever doesn’t mean it wasn’t meant to be.