Interpersonal Priority Setting

As you relate to people in your family, you will find that things go better if emphasis is given to cooperation, loyalty, caring, sharing, respect, and trust.  First, simply think about your family relationships.  Do people cooperate with you?  Are people loyal to you?  Do your family member care about you and share with you?  Do you think you receive the level of respect and trust you would like to have?  The idea in this activity is for you to evaluate yourself in terms of being someone who gets cooperation, loyalty, caring, sharing, respect, and trust from others.

Using the scale from five to one, rate yourself on each of the six statements below.  Five equals almost always, four equals usually, three equals sometimes, two equals seldom, and one equals almost never.  Once you are finished, add your ratings together and divide the total by six.  This will give you a priority score.  It will be in your best interest to relate to others in your family in ways that keep your priority score at 4.0 or higher.  When you have having difficulties with family relationships, go back to this activity, think about the statements, and then devote some time for two or three weeks to being sure that your priority score stays above 4.0.

1. COOPERATION  I am consistently helpful to others in my family.

2. LOYALTY  I hang in there in a positive way with the ups and downs in the relationships with people in my family.

3. CARING  I am consistently involved and interested in others in my family.

4. SHARING  I spend some time talking with members of my family everyday.

5. RESPECT  I listen patiently and carefully whenever members of my family are talking, telling me about something, or trying to express their ideas or feelings.

6. TRUST  I do not get into blaming, accusing, or threatening members of my family.