Archive for communication
Listen or Give Advice? How to determine which way to respond to your partner or friend
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Sometimes our partner, friend, or family member might share a stressful story, discuss their daily struggle, or express concerns about a topic…. But you have no idea what response might be the proper one. How do you know what they need during a chat, whether it’s just a willing an ear to listen or to give constructive advice? This is no simple task…no matter if it is for friendships or intimate relationships. Read More→
May 8th: Couple’s Relationship Retreat
Posted by: | CommentsThe Couple’s Retreat: Real Answers for Real Relationships
Is your relationship stuck?
Are you tired of the endless fighting?
Does your relationship need a tune-up?
May 8th Jennine Estes, your San Diego Marriage and Family Therapist, is putting on a relationship retreat that is cost effective and unique. It will provide couples with tools on building a stronger relationship, creating healthy communication, and getting relationships back on track. This unique retreat allows couples to decide how much they want to spend on the relationship. You can either simply come to the workshop, or stay for the date night, or even stay the weekend. It is all your choice.
The Relationship Retreat includes: Read More→
Relationship Advice: How to Stop Interrupting
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Interrupting can be a bad habit….and it automatically shuts down lines of communication. When we are so eager and in hurry to get our point across, it is difficult to slow down and not interrupt the other person. The quick interjection and cutting off the other person sends out a bad message that they don’t matter. The receiving end can feel as if your invisible, what you have to say does not matter, and you’re not important. There are good intentions bind this approach, yet it unfortunately sends the opposite message.
Here are a few quick tips on how to stop the bad habit of interrupting: Read More→
Is “Bring Home the Bacon” Too Much in Your Relationship?
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by Jennine Estes, MFT
You may know the feeling of hitting the snooze button just a few more times before you have to face your work day. You look at your partner lying comfortably in the bed as you crawl out of bed. The day races and you face the ups-and-downs of your job. At the end of the day, you arrive home to your partner who spent a few hours searching for a job and the rest enjoying the day, and you notice frustration increases inside. Your eyes scan the house and notice the household chores that haven’t been done. Does this sound familiar?
Text Fighting: Do’s and Don’ts to Text Messaging in your Relationship
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Have you ever had the day of desperately wanting your partner to understand how you feel, so you quickly grab the telephone and send a text message? And as you grab the cell phone, you rapidly write your response with your raw thoughts and emotions, and then press send button. While anxiously awaiting a response, you check your phone various times within just a few seconds. As the response from your partner comes through, you quickly become upset and throw a text message right back….and the text fighting begins. This text fighting can be a road to a disaster for many couples. Read More→
Text Fighting Advice: How Communication is more than Words
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Have you ever had one of those lengthy text fights that go nowhere? You are not alone. I work with many couples in relationship counseling that get caught in text fighting. Cell phones provide quick and convenient communication through text messaging, yet couples fall into a downward spiral of text fighting.
Dr. Albert Mehrabian reports in his book Silent Messages that the majority of communication is through body language and tone of voice, not what is said. He calls it the “7%-38%-55% Rule.” Fifty-five percent of other people’s reactions to you are based on your facial expression, 38% based on your tone of voice, and only 7% of their reaction are from the words you are actually saying. Communication is more than words. Addressing relationship problems through text messaging relies only on the 7% of what is being said, which requires the other 93% to be guessed. Text fighting is usually a road to disaster and doesn’t help resolve conflict. Read More→
Money Stress and Marriage: How to Keep STRONG During a Recession
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Many people are worrying about finances and are facing economic struggles. Quite frequently when finances drop, so does the relationship satisfaction. Don’t be part of that. If your bank account is dwindling, it is more important than ever to keep your relationship strong.
Here are ways on how to ieep your relationship strong while your finances are in stress: Read More→
Bedroom Messages: What message do you want to send?
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This photo says it all. What messages do you send to your partner in the bed? Do you send the message that you are open for intimacy? Do you show that you care?
Take a look at what non-verbal messages you send to your partner. Think about how they might respond. Read More→
Healthy Communication in Relationships: What does that mean?
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Couples frequently come in to my office saying that they want “healthier communication.” But what does that really mean?
All of these high functioning, business oriented, goal driven couples communicate to one another; they talk, express how they feel, and continue to discuss ongoing issues. They regurgitate the problem over and over, they reshape the way they say things, they shift their perspective, and they constantly try various ways to explain their side. Communication is exactly what they do, but the bigger question is what do they accomplish? Learning how to communicate is too broad of an issue….healthy communication is about narrowing in, taking a deeper look at the interactions within each partner, and understand how the couple interact together. Read More→
Simple Relationship Advice: Helping couples stay Connected
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Just a few words of advice….
Love isn’t the only thing a relationship needs to stay alive. It needs attention, emotional security, and effective communication. Read More→
conflicting couples, affairs, communication struggles, etc.