It may sound cliche, but communication is indeed key to successful relationships. Good communication is not only an essential part of maintaining a relationship, but it also makes the partnership and bond between two people extremely strong. Every relationship has certain ups and downs, thus communication is the only way out to deal with the conflicts and make way for building a stronger and healthier relationship. It may be easy to tell people, that communication is the key to healthy relationships, but it is not easy to explain how to communicate effectively to grow and strengthen your relationship. If you require any help mastering communication to maintain successful relationship, I am Gordon Grigg, a professional life coach and business consultant is here for all the assistance.
Importance of communication in a relationship
Humans have a constant urge of making connections with friends and family. But to maintain an intimate relationship, communication is important. Communication is an effective tool in any relationship as it allows us to share our feelings. expectations, and opinions freely. If we don’t communicate we would feel isolated and misunderstood and also various negative emotions will start overpowering our minds, which can lead to arguments. Thus, to grease the wheels of your relationship, you must communicate and talk your heart out. A good place to start with this is to know the importance of communication in a relationship. Go through the below-listed points to know about the same.
- Get to know each other- The key to determining whether you are compatible with your partner or not, is to talk and communicate as much as you can. Understand the likes & dislikes of your partner, gain insight into their morals and values, and make some frequent conversations that will help you get to know who they are.
- For increased trust- Real communication and intimacy in any relationship happen when you can freely talk to your partner about anything and everything. Sharing happiness, sadness, the good and the bad days, and anything and everything with your partner is extremely important through great communication skills. There are certain disciplines of love, that you must follow to develop trust between your partner.
- Increase intimacy- Great communication between partners increases intimacy. As emotional intimacy comes with listening to the needs of your partner and when you are compassionate and understanding towards them. When people feel that they are being understood, they feel honored and accepted the way they are, then the emotional intimacy skyrockets.
- Avoiding misunderstandings- To communicate effectively you must avoid misunderstandings, as this acts as fuel, enough to burn down your relationship. Thus, you should always communicate with your partner upto every extent and try to finish misunderstandings Express your opinions to your partner clearly and be ready to comprise a little about certain situations, to keep them happy and your relationship going.
- For resolving conflict- Little fights and misinterpretations are quite common in any relationship. While there may be some sets of spouses who are in a common tiff all the time. On the other hand, there may be some who do not fight at all. Thus, every relationship has its ups and downs, and both the fighting and non-fighting case scenarios depict a lack of communication between the two. So, you should brush up on your communication skills, to resolve the conflict.
- To set some clear expectations- We all have a certain set of expectations from our respective partners or from people we love and live with. And to run any relationship mutually and cordially it is extremely important to communicate and tell your loved ones about what you expect from that relationship. Also, be open and honest about your thoughts and what you believe in. Once you set up your expectations, you will be able to enjoy a satisfying and healthy life.
How you can communicate skillfully in a relationship
Communication is the best possible way of expressing yourself healthily. Talking and listening to your partner when they share something and absorbing their thoughts is the best way to maintain a relationship. Communication is the major aspect of a relationship as it creates a difference between a strong, lifelong partnership or a conflict-filled bond that might end in disappointment. Mentioned below are certain points that will tell you how you can improve communication in any relationship.
- Commit to a true connection- You must understand, that communication is not just talking and conversing with people. Communication in any relationship is about connecting to your loved ones through verbal, non-verbal, written, and physical skills, to fulfill your partner’s needs. In a relationship communication is not just small talk, rather it is understanding the viewpoint of your partner, understanding them, and telling them how much you love them. Thus, it is necessary to improve communication to maintain a long-term relationship.
- Pick up non-verbal clues- To keep your relationship smooth-going for a longer period, you need to learn to read between the lines. If they say that their day was fine, but the tone for the same seems to be stressed out or irritated. Then, in such a case, you need to have a deeper look at the same and feel the tone and attitude of the words coming from the speaker’s mouth. It is a skill to pick up and understand non-verbal cues by looking at the movements of hands, legs, or entire body language.
- Identify your style of communication- Before you learn how to improve communication, you must first learn that every individual has unique communication styles. There are four main types of communication styles, i.e., passive, aggressive, assertive, and passive-aggressive. Passive communicators are those, who don’t know how to feel no and also know how to keep their feelings inside. People who have an aggressive style of communication, are usually expressive and loud with their thoughts, Passive-aggressive is a mixture of both, how to know how to avoid conflict and deal with the situation using sarcasm. Assertive-toned people are the healthiest type who know how to touch emotions and communicate with them effectively.
- Ask open-ended questions- Communication with your partner is not just saying I Love You multiple times a day, asking about each other’s day, or checking whether your partner has eaten lunch or not. It is about digging deep and having a conversation that could help you know about the person’s real traits, habits, and feelings. The conversation might not necessarily be heart to heart to heart but it should always be honest, you should always ask some open-ended questions while commuting.
- Don’t try to read their mind- Sometimes, it is not easy, to look at your partner’s face and tell how they are feeling. We become mind readers at that time, and try to understand the situation even without communication. It can thus sometimes lead to certain dire consequences. So it is better to ask your partner about how they are feeling, rather than making guesswork.
Conclusion
Communication is a skill, which means there is always room to make it better and better with every passing day. So, in a relationship, it is your task to find out what type of communication suits you and your partner the best. And also the ways by which you can maintain a healthy relationship to stay on the same page always. I Gordon Grigg, a business consultant and life coach from Nashville, Tennessee will advise you to be honest, kind, thoughtful, and direct in a relationship.
