THE ART OF RELATIONSHIP WITH PERSONAL BOUNDARIES

It is possible that, when working in the service of others, you have experienced unpleasant situations when interacting with another person. Perhaps feelings of weariness, nervousness, blocking or not knowing what to do have appeared at some moments. You might have felt attacked orunderestimated sometimes or might have felt like your own mind boycotted youthrough feelings of uselessness or ineffectiveness. 

There are plenty of studies that support the idea that the help offered to others is measured by own self-care. Learning to interact with others, with our personal vulnerability and boundaries shaped as thoughts and feelings, can turn out to be a requisite to help connect with the clients in a specialway that helps create transformative moments.

In the last few decades, psychosocial care has changed its view, going from focusing on eliminating or reducing the symptoms to enhancing personal development and quality of life and promoting a meaningful life.

This paradigmatic shift is associated with a change in the care processes, professional roles and in the development of strong help interactions. Some of the aspects that are going to characterize said personal interactions are

• Horizontal relationship between professional and client
• Focus on the person and completevalidation of their interests and needs
• Great ability to be present andconnected to the person
• Open and shared presence of vulnerability,which unites us all as human beings
• The virtue to empathize and to be insomeone else’s shoes

When developing these roles and characteristics of personal connections, a special way of professional training beyond professional technical expertise will be especially relevant. It is a real training of abilities regarding connecting to the thoughts and feelings that emerge as personal boundaries when implementing said virtues.

The mindfulness strategies have been shown to be effective when generating a new way of relating the person and itscontents. These strategies will help develop:

• An “I”, observer of most unpleasant thoughts and feeling, that leaves the path clear to a more conscious presence and a greater connection with the person.
• An inclusive relationship where the feeling that the person is greater than the thoughts and feelings grows.
• A distance between the thinking andfeeling “I” and what is thought and felt. This distance will enable thecreation of a space for the acceptance of any unpleasant impact emerging fromthe therapeutic relationship, which will make it easier for the professional tofocus on what they value as professionals and that is, in addition, mostimportant for the client.