• The majority of couple’s conflict begins with poor or unhealthy communication. One learnable skill that will have a massive impact on your ability to communicate well is empathy. It is important to distinguish the difference between listening and hearing as it pertains to empathy.

     

    Hearing can be illustrated by Jim sitting at the kitchen table. Sarah, Jim’s partner, is talking about what her plans for the day are as she prepares her packed lunch. Jim scrolls the mornings news on his phone while eating his bagel and gives a “okay, sounds good” every minute or two so .... (read more)

  • “I feel like you are never around”

    “I feel that you don’t care about me”

    You may have heard or even used these statements or one’s like them before. Perhaps you were feeling hurt, misunderstood, or lonely, and you desperately wanted to feel understood. You may have even heard it said before that if you want to feel understood or if you want to communicate effectively that you have to use ‘I-statements’ and say what you are feeling. The difficulty is that although the example statements appear to follow those rules, they will likely result in the person you are talking to becoming defensive and closed off.... (read more)