Why Relationships Matter

Take our Can You Spot Red Flags In A Relationship?

Find a therapist to strengthen relationships

"Contemplation requires deep participating in the human condition rather than absolute isolation" Thomas Merton

Participating is the verb form of the noun participation; it avoids a static description and prioritizes context over content. It is a way of sharing in, or being actively involved in, a relationship with an event or with others. Carl Rogers believed it is a means for one to become part of a deeper ecological, side-by-side relationship, participating in and being an "observer of the process " of the entire story and living entity, rather than being in control of it.

The Decline of Trust in Society

Sadly, according to the Pew Research Center's report “Americans Trust in One Another,” May 8, 2025, only about one-third of Americans believe that most people can be trusted, a sharp drop from nearly half of the population in the 1970s.

This is directly related to a decline in our mental, emotional, and physical health. Isolation and unresolved conflict cause health problems emanating from our nervous system being compromised and forcing our vagus nerve to constrict, searching for needed security and compassion. It has been linked to affecting our Cortisol levels, the steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands that regulates metabolism, immune function, and our stress response. As a result, we become victims of an ongoing, revved-up sympathetic fight-or-flight response that sabotages our nervous system.

How do we create a trusting relationship? Martin Buber referred to it as an "I and Thou" experience, in which true participating occurs when we meet the world with our whole being, rather than treating it as an “I-It” object to be used or analyzed. It is a quest to appreciate being alive, which, according to Alan Lightman, "is the most extraordinary stroke of good luck we will........

© Psychology Today