A lot of the angst and/or friction in relationships comes from communication.
Communication is both verbal and non-verbal. There are the words we say and then there is the meaning behind them. There are also the words we don't say, thinking the other person should know what we mean and want by our non-verbal clues. As I'm sure we all have experienced, this is not often the case.
Few if any of us are mind readers, so we need to hone our communication skills in the verbal sense. And we need to be aware of our non-verbal cues - how our posture is, our eye contact, and even the tone and volume of our voices.
Trust me, I am quite sure the word "fine" has very different meanings for men and women, as an example!
Feedback is also important in communication.
Again, few if any of us are mind readers. If we don't let others know how their words and actions affect us - both negatively AND positively - there can be a serious breakdown in the relationship due to pent-up angst, resentment, and anger.
It's fine to bounce your reaction to the words and actions of one person off of someone else you know and trust as a reasonable and relatively unbiased sounding board, however, once you've sorted out the wheat from the chaff of your reaction, you might need to discuss things with the person whose words and actions you reacted to in the first place.
Open and honest communication and feedback are important elements to the success of a relationship - whether it be personal or professional.
And, if the person you are providing feedback to ignores, rejects, or belittles your feedback, that might need to be examined too, in relation to your, well, relationship.
Is this relationship buoying you up or dragging you down? Is it helping you grow, keeping you stagnant, or worst of all, stifling you?
As always, I welcome your feedback. Contact me here, and let me know how this blog has helped you over the last nearly four years of it's existence.
I am on vacation next weekend, so we will pick back up in September. The theme for the month will be Overall Well Being.
Until next time, Namaste!
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