When the ones we love won’t talk to us, we often get mad at them assuming they are the problem. However, it’s possible that we have unintentionally created an environment that doesn’t feel like a safe place for open and honest communication.
The hardest part of this is to not take it personally and react. (Hint: That might be the exact reason they don’t talk now. 😅)
In order to reconstruct communication in our relationships, we have to be willing to listen without reacting. We sometimes have to be willing to get our feelings hurt. And we have to be willing to accept that despite our intentions, we may come across to others differently than we think.
If we want to heal communication in our relationships, we often will need to put our egos to the side and accept that everybody is not the same and that doesn’t make them wrong. We may need to approach things differently than how we usually do things, than how we were raised, and learn to listen to understand.
Far too often we are so sensitive (and call ourselves tough), that people do not feel safe to be real with us. They see how we react to others, they remember how we’ve reacted to them in the past, and they know how we think.
Sometimes we need to get curious by asking questions and LISTENING to the answer. When we do so with the goal of connecting with the other person, to understand their perspective, RATHER THAN to defend ourselves and show them how wrong they are, we create opportunities to heal our relationships.
Blessings!
Marlene Dillon Empowerment Specialist
*If you are a parent, who is looking to improve communication with your child, tap the button below to learn more about my Healing Our Families series.
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