Our relationships with others can be the source of our greatest joys and satisfactions, but they can also be the source our greatest challenges, distress and heartache. Whether we are relating with a spouse, partner, parent, child, friend, boss, or co-worker; if we are unable to express our needs and resolve conflicts, we will struggle and be unhappy. Maybe it is difficult for us to trust others or open ourselves to intimacy. Or maybe we have trouble establishing boundaries and saying “no” when we need to. It could be that we can’t control our anger and we have damaged our relationships with abusive words or actions. The way we behave in relationships is usually related to what we learned about relationships while growing up. How we were treated and what we observed happening between other important people, such as our parents, siblings and peers can become an unexamined standard by which we live. If we adopted unhelpful or unhealthy habits, we will suffer the results in our relationships.