Relationship Tips
Everyday Communication – Members Content
Good communication… IS ALWAYS OTHER-CENTRED The best way to stay other-centred and ensure effective communication, even amid the stress of every day situations, is for the Speaker to make it easy for the Listener to listen and for the Listener to encourage the Speaker. Both the Speaker and the Listener are responsible for the quality…
Read MoreEmotional Communion – Members Content
Emotional Communion is more than just reading or listening actively to what our loved one is sharing. It involves opening our heart in vulnerability to the other, so that we can enter into his or her emotion and be united with them in the experience. The goal of Emotional Communion is to take on the…
Read MoreUnregulated Self-expression – Members Content
Common Traps When Speaking Generally, men are less dependent than women on verbal expression to establish connection and emotional intimacy with their spouse. This imbalance means that a typical wife will seek more verbal communication than a typical husband, leading to the common dynamic of frustration on his part and hurt on hers. He thinks…
Read MoreListening with the Heart – Members Content
The first step towards the kind of active listening that will facilitate an experience of intimacy is to examine some of our normal responses to the other’s personal sharing of what’s going on inside them. Resistance People tend to block the sharing of their emotions when the listener reacts defensively or signals that they don’t…
Read MoreLevels of Intimacy – Members Content
Emotional intelligence refers to a person’s ability to understand their own and other people’s emotional life. Some people are very bright academically but can be quite inept when it comes to relationships and self-awareness. Others have a natural ability in this area. Nonetheless, it is possible for us all to expand and develop our emotional…
Read MoreCommunication – Members Content
It is helpful to make a distinction between communicating for information and communicating for intimacy. Communicating for information is all about getting the facts and understanding the message. It’s more about the transmission of information than about relationship. The goal of communicating for intimacy, on the other hand, is to know one another at a…
Read MoreMy Dream for Our Marriage – Members Content
Extension Activity: Your Dream Write What is your dream for your relationship with each other? What would your ideal marriage look like? Describe a typical day or week in the marriage of your dreams. Be specific! How much eye contact would you have? How open would you be with your emotions, hopes, and dreams? Would…
Read MoreAffirmation – Members Content
Consistent, sincere affirmation has the capacity to heal the wounds of inadequacy from which so many of us suffer. It communicates acceptability and lovableness. It lifts us up, and helps us feel better about ourselves. However, the power of affirmation is not limited to the recipient only. The person making the affirmation is also transformed.…
Read MoreSmartLoving – Members Content
Loving the way my fiancé likes to be loved Every person experiences love in a unique way. Some gestures of love will more powerfully communicate love to you than others. For example, some people feel close and connected when they can physically touch the other person. Others demonstrate love through words of affirmation or affection,…
Read MoreTo Cherish and Respect – Members Content
Each of you, however, should love [agape] his wife as himself, and let every wife respect her husband. Eph 5:33 When St Paul wrote these words 2000 years ago he was keenly aware of the differences between the sexes and so he deliberately gave husbands and wives different instructions on how to live a successful…
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