Relational skills are brain-based skills that give us the ability and capacity to build meaningful connections with the people in our lives. With practice, relational skills are what we use to maintain our relationships during strain, conflicts and difficulties so we endure hardship well as we stay connected.
Ideally, relational skills are learned from our families beginning in infancy. However, we all have gaps.
Maybe you can build connections with others, but you struggle to calm yourself when stressed or anxious. Or maybe you know how to focus on the good things when life is going well, yet you don’t know how to gain God’s perspective during trials and hardship.
To fill these gaps, we need to intentionally develop the skills that we didn’t receive in our early years. The good news is our brains are never too old to change and never too young to learn.
THRIVE resources equip you to further develop your skills and intentionally pass these skills on to others. The effects of developing Relational Skills are similar to the benefits of water to your body – they touch every area of your life. Some of the most common changes are: