If you are too scared to show your happiness to anyone else, chances are you are keeping them low key even from yourself. Perhaps you are scared someone will dismiss the feelings, envy you, make fun of you or just rob you and use your stuff to blow their own trumpet. Learn how to anchor your good feelings so that you retain ownership and enjoy them no matter what other agenda any one else has for you.
It's a great feeling to feel truly understood. It's very disappointing and frustrating when friends and loved ones say they understand you but show impatience, want you to change or shift your mood. There are two key elements in feeling understood. The first is acceptance but in very specific way. Learn about the many ways you can show and feel accepted in order to experience the sense of being understood and doing the same for your loved ones.
Learn how to prepare yourself for meeting with your date or loved ones so that your hopes and expectations don't get dashed in disappointment. Check in with yourself about what you are wanting and hoping for before you get lost in the fantasy and then have your bubble burst.
when one partner wants emotional caring and the other wants actions and tangible evidence of love it causes relationship stress. Marriages and partnerships come under strain. Stress overload makes one or both partner's ill. Illness such as infections and pain can reflect the stress and stimulate a compromise that helps you and your loved find an acceptable point of agreement for giving what is needed and accepting what is offered even if it isn't your preferred or ideal way.
Keeping silent to protect your partner from feeling bad actually makes them feel worse. They get stressed, suspicious and feel estranged from you. Research indicates that avoiding one another works against successful relationships, and constant worry about the feelings of your partner makes you dissatisfied and want to opt out. Learn 3 ways to communicate honestly and build healthy connections.
Is yours a volatile marriage prone to conflict and likely to break up, or a validating marriage that is happy and supportive? Find out by reading this article and get 8 tips on changing your marriage from a volatile to a validating successful marriage.
Pretending you aren't hurt when things go wrong in your relationships may make you feel strong in the moment. But suppressed and denied hurt turns into hostile contempt and wish for revenge- the ideal recipe for breakups and divorce. Learn how to express your hurt without being accusatory or punishing. Make room for feeling better and more connected when you have given your hurt it's rightful voice.
When you are upset that you aren't as perfect as you aimed for, you may criticize yourself, feel bad about yourself and then withdraw from the people you love. Your sense of being imperfect makes you fearful of getting close. You turn inward and shut loved ones out, making your intimate connections dissolve. Research indicates that the self-critical part of perfectionism is the most destructive force to intimacy.
The way you and your partner look at each other predicts healthy versus unhealthy intimacy, and ultimately your relationship satisfaction. Find out how your pattern of eye contact influences how you talk about your relationship and influences your sense of autonomy and togetherness.
Bargaining with your loved ones either because you are afraid of being rejected or because you are riddled in guilt can bring short term relief. In the long run the relationships are torn into shreds because your true motives for the bargain are not on the table. Learn how to take care of your relationship with healthy compromise instead of stressful bargaining.
