

{"id":47083,"date":"2020-03-12T05:27:29","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T05:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/?p=47083"},"modified":"2026-03-20T07:08:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:08:56","slug":"flexibility-or-honesty-in-a-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/relationship\/flexibility-or-honesty-in-a-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"Flexibility or Honesty in a Relationship, What Matters More?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-47086 size-full\" title=\"Flexibility or Honesty in a Relationship, What Matters More?\" src=\"https:\/\/image.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/flexibility-or-honesty-in-a-relationship-what-matters-more.jpg\" alt=\"Woman And Man Hand-holding In The Grassy Field\" width=\"804\" height=\"350\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you a bamboo, or oak tree, in your love and relationships?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An interesting question, isn&rsquo;t it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, for yourself, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">what matters most in a relationship<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? Honesty in a relationship or <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">flexibility in your relationships?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you a bamboo tree, swaying in the wind&rsquo;s, or are you an oak tree, firmly planted in your beliefs, actions, and mindset regarding love and relationships?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the past 30 years, number one best-selling author, counselor, Master Life Coach, and Minister David Essel has been helping people first to evaluate where they are in life, and then second, to make changes necessary to improve their everyday existence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Below, David talks about the <\/span><b>difference between the importance of honesty in a relationship and the benefits of flexibility in relationships.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;Over 20 years ago, when we created our top-selling course, &ldquo;codependency kills, &ldquo;I gave the very first client that went through our program the task of trying to figure out if they were a &ldquo;bamboo tree or oak tree&ldquo; in their <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/intimacy\/five-contemporary-intimacy-exercises-for-married-couples\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">intimate relationships<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and friendships.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&rsquo;ll never forget the look on her face, eyes wide open, as he said, &ldquo;David, I have no idea what the heck you&rsquo;re talking about! Bamboo? OK?&ldquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We both sat there laughing, as I understood her dilemma because very few people use the analogies of being a bamboo tree or an oak tree when it comes to evaluating our friendships and love relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our new top-selling book, &ldquo;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/davidessel.com\/books-products\/love-and-relationship-secrets\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Love and relationship secrets&hellip; That everyone needs to know!<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo; I go into detail explaining how individuals with &ldquo;a bamboo tree mentality, &ldquo;are normally very codependent nature; they&rsquo;re afraid of rocking the boat, shaking the tree, in case their opinions or belief systems are opposite of those individuals in their inner circle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does that make sense?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Bamboo or oak tree &ndash; what are you?<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-47085 size-full\" title=\"Bamboo or oak tree - what are you?\" src=\"https:\/\/image.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/bamboo-or-oak-tree-what-are-you.jpg\" alt=\"Men And Women Thinking And Looking Up\" width=\"804\" height=\"350\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The &ldquo;bamboo tree personality&ldquo;, sways with whoever they are with. So if they&rsquo;re talking to a group of Democrats, they&rsquo;re supporting the democratic concepts and or president potentials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When they&rsquo;re worth a group of Republicans, these individuals will often sway the other way and agree with individuals regarding the Republican philosophy, so as not to upset anyone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It sounds like a good plan, to never have anyone upset with you, but it 100% destroys the chances of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/relationship\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">real intimacy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which we describe as &ldquo;110% honesty.&ldquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, on the other hand, if you&rsquo;re an oak tree, very solid in your beliefs about love, money, politics, religion&hellip; You have no problem whatsoever expressing your opinions, not in order to disagree with someone or to get into an argument, but just because you&rsquo;re that secure in who you are.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we discussed in the book, people who have very firm beliefs and opinions will eventually surround themselves with people who are also very open and honest in nature, which I hope is the quest of everyone on this planet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&rsquo;s not enough to be liked or included;<\/span><b> it&rsquo;s more important to be respected<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> even if your viewpoints are different than the people you hang around with.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Also watch:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Tm0JrghuR_U\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So one of the greatest secrets that we offer in this book, that will help you become a more solid, confident and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/mental-health\/self-love\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">person filled with self-love<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is, to be honest with everyone around you about your opinions, without having to shove them down anyone&rsquo;s throat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But just be open and honest to the strength you have within, and share that strength with others regardless if they understand, agree and\/or accept your beliefs or not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Honesty in relationships is the path of the independent person, and it is through your independence that you will eventually find deep, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.powerofpositivity.com\/20-secrets-to-creating-meaningful-relationships\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">meaningful relationships<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and friendships.&ldquo;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you a bamboo, or oak tree, in your love and relationships? An interesting question, isn&rsquo;t it? So, for yourself, what matters most in a relationship? Honesty in a relationship or flexibility in your relationships? Are you a bamboo tree, swaying in the wind&rsquo;s, or are you an oak tree, firmly planted in your beliefs, actions, and mindset regarding love and relationships? For the past 30 years, number one best-selling author, counselor, Master Life Coach, and Minister David Essel has been helping people first to evaluate where they are in life, and then second, to make changes necessary to improve <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":47086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[2511],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47083"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118618,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47083\/revisions\/118618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}