Relationship with your family

We all have one whether we want to acknowledge them or not. Our relationship with our family, however, might just be the most important one we cultivate.

Yes, cultivate. We have to work at building and maintaining a relationship with our family members: both our immediate family members and our extended family members.

But, how do you build or maintain a relationship with family members?

Here are five elements to focus on to help you build and maintain a good relationship with family members.

1. Practice Active Listening

2. Use Positive vs Negative Reactions & Comments

3. Work to Share the Tasks / Chores

4. Plan to Spend Quality Time Together

5. Plan to Do Things Together

Credit for the above article: Rebecca Kojetin

Now it comes to a proven socio-spiritual movement undertaken by BAPS Sanstha. An organization that constructed  Swaminarayan Akshardham (Gandhinagar) in 1992. A number of traditional stone mandirs in major cities; Neasden (1995),  Nairobi (1999), Swaminarayan Akshardham (New Delhi) (2005),  Houston (2004),  Chicago (2004),  Toronto (2007),  Atlanta (2007),  Los Angeles (2012), and Robbinsville (2014).

The concept of Ghar sabha is an innovative initiative introduced by Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

Conflicting schedules and varied interests make it increasingly difficult for members of a family to spend quality time together. Ghar sabha offers a solution to this by enabling family members to gather daily to discuss Satsang concepts and share updates and happenings from each others’ lives. This daily dose of communication gives parents and children a better understanding of each other’s spiritual, physical, and emotional needs.

Janak Patel from Surat, India notices the difference Ghar sabha made in interacting with his eleven-year-old son: “He was really hard to talk to. I knew he was hanging out with people his age that were pulling him further away from our family and closer to things I didn’t want my son around. One day he came home and said he wanted to start doing ghar sabha. What I realized was that he wanted to talk to me about it all along; he just didn’t know how to. Today, we openly discuss his plans for the day, night, and even who he is spending time with. I feel like I didn’t know my son until I started doing ghar sabha.”

Family Satsang is a formula to improve the World

The highest of all things is love. No matter how bad a person may be, but he can be transformed through love. So, when a person improves, the family improves; when a family improves, society improves; when society improves, the country improves; and when a country improves, the world improves. But the family improves through the practice of ghar sabha. Therefore, do ghar sabha and make your house sacred and ideal like a mandir.

A visionary leader who has launched this Initiative

Pramukh Swami Maharaj launched this initiative as a remedy to social and familial unrest in our communities. He says, “Ghar sabha e ghar ni shobha che,” which means “Ghar sabha is the only way to truly beautify our homes.”