Improving Communication in Your Marriage

A No-Frills Guide

If communication in your marriage is less than blissful, it may be taking a toll on your relationship with your spouse. Effective communication is key to any relationship, and since a marriage, for most of us, means that we live together, eat together, sleep together, clean together, parent together, and possibly even work together, it is easy to see how even a short lived breakdown in communicating can put a strain on a marriage. Keeping open lines of effective communication is a lot of work, don't kid yourself. It comes naturally to very few people. Just about any disruption or argument in a marriage can be traced back to ineffective communication, on the part of one or both spouses. Taking the time to improve communication in your marriage can have wonderful, and sometimes much needed, results. So, how do we communicate better?

MAKE SURE YOU ARE REALLY LISTENING

Some will be surprised to find that one of the most important, if not the most important, aspects of communication, is listening. Let's face it, if you are not listening intently enough that you are really understanding what your spouse is saying concerning their thoughts and needs, you may as well just hold a sign up in front of your face that reads, "Sorry, but you are wasting your time". If you don't really listen, and actually hear what your spouse is conveying to you, you need to back up and do just that. Even if you don't like what they are saying, try to understand the subject of your discussion from their point of view. Otherwise, you don't have much chance of moving forward in the conversation with any success of an outcome that both of you can find something positive about. Not only that, but if you won't put forth the effort to sincerely listen, how can you expect your spouse to reciprocate?

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN