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The Joy of Relaxed Conversation

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

I just returned from a seven day cruise. Besides the relaxation, new scenery, exciting day trips to never before visited places, I think what I enjoyed as much was meeting and talking to the people who were on this cruise.

We met people from all over the United States and Canada. As we sat for dinner or a glass of wine, we talked and shared about where we lived, places we have traveled, our interests and backgrounds.

Over the course of a week, we would bump into each other at various places on board, laugh and joke and at times shared phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Most cell phones were turned off since we had entered another country. But we found we didn’t need them except to take pictures.

How fun to talk face to face, see expressions and hear inflections and the tone of messages. Has life become so hectic that we have to go on a cruise to find time to sit, relax and talk with one another for a few minutes? How sad that today’s conversations are often fast sound bites texted to one another.

Climate Change and Your Relationship

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

We hear a lot these days about climate change. Climates have been cyclic for years. Do we influence the weather patterns? I don’t know – and neither do many scientists.

But I do know that we have a huge influence on the climate of our relationships. This is especially important for our marriages.

Years ago Aaron Beck, founder of CBT, helped us understand cognitive distortions, the distorted thinking that gets us into so much trouble. They include All or Nothing Thinking, Overgeneralization, Mental Filtering, and Mind Reading among others.

When we identify and alter these thinking and communication errors, we can change the climate of our relationships.

Let’s take a closer look at these 4 distorted thinking patterns

All or Nothing Thinking

Everything is either black or white. No shades of grey. It is either/or thinking. You are either a saint or a sinner – good guy or bad guy.

This kind of thinking dehumanizes individuals because no one is either all good or all bad. When we have programmed ourselves to see things in such a rigid way, we miss all the wonderful parts of who we are.

Book Review: The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

There are a lot of books out there to help any marriage that might be in trouble, excellent books that describe how we form attachments, how we love and different love languages we use with our mates.

However, I am particularly biased toward Gottman’s books because of his extensive work with clients and research study on the habits of marriage couples through The Gottman Institute.

While he has written a number of books, two of my favorites are “Couples Communication” and “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work”

Each chapter describes one of the principles and includes many user friendly exercises for better understanding and application to your own marriage. Here is his blueprint to make your marriage long-lasting.

The seven important principles according to Gottman

Listen? Of course I’m listening…

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

We are communicating every day in some way: with words, or a look, a touch of the hand, a gesture or by our posture. Sometimes it is through notes we write or texting on our phone.

What are we saying and what is being heard?

As I was reviewing some of my notes and former class material on relationships, I came across the following five important communication reminders for parents.

But they’re not just for parents communicating with their children, but also for couples who struggle every day to share and better understand each other. I have rewritten them to include spouses as well as parents and children.

Communication – for everyone

4 Catastrophic Traps Couples Can Fall Into

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Everything was going so nicely – we were so happy. And then reality stepped in:

there’s not enough money to pay the bills, credit card debts keep piling up, in-laws intrude with all their advise and many visits, and we have to work longer hours to keep our jobs while accomplishing more.

Suddenly we find ourselves arguing more, tempers flaring, anger rising beyond the norm and the blame game begins. We go outside our marriage to talk about our spouses and get consolation, validation, sympathy and support.

And the scene is set for even more serious troubles.

In his book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, Dr. John Gottman lays out in a practical format the seven principles for making marriage work, based on years of research and study in his Seattle based clinic, The Gottman Institute.

Conversation

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

As I sat with my friend having dinner, I was struck by how many couples were sitting opposite each other engrossed in their cell phones, with only an occasional comment to their partner.

Or they were simply sitting quietly, looking out the window or watching the activity in the restaurant, each deep in their own thoughts with emptiness reflected on their face.

Where was the active engagement in conversation – listening, gesturing, offering points of view, and laughing?

Moments in time

At any moment in time we are offered opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle and connect with each other.

We choose what we do within each moment. We can spend our time on trivial things or purposefully spend time to connect with one another.

Relationships take time to develop and they require conversation, interaction, face to face interaction, listening and then responding. It requires feedback for better understanding, validation and confirmation of feelings. It requires being in the present moment with each other.

Entwining Roots

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

“For I will pour water on the thirsty ground and send streams coursing through the parched earth. I will pour my spirit into your descendants and my blessing on your children. They shall sprout like grass on the prairie, like willows alongside creeks.”

Isaiah 44:3-4

There are two trees in my backyard. Their trunks touching, roots entwining, they reach high into the sky, together yet separate. They symbolize the life I shared with my husband.

The love we shared was as deep and connected as the entwining and supporting roots of these two trees. We nurtured each other while allowing the other the independence to grow in their own ways.

The tree that was Le Roy has been cut down, and the love that flowed through those roots that nourished each other now seeps into barren soil.

This was a journal entry I made after the death of my husband that reflected the life we shared. It is included in my new book, From Winter to Spring, currently being edited for publication that gives helpful information to individuals moving from losses to creating a new reality.

We bring to the marriage altar a truckload of expectations, myths, wants and wishes hoping that now I will be loved unconditionally and all my needs will be met. The problem is that the other person is bringing their own bag of history with them.

Retreat

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

In March of this year I wrote this about a friend of mine:

“My sister – not by blood, but by a bond forged over the years.

Sometimes we are fortunate in that God gives two people a heritage that goes beyond blood, and we can truly call ourselves sisters.

Through thick and thin – good times and bad – I know I can depend on her to be there – for support – for physical assistance – someone who never thought twice to fly all the way from England to be with me when my husband was dying.”

And in the same way, she knows I will be there for her, whatever the situation she may be challenged with. It’s not keeping score.

It’s a friendship freely given.

Critical Investments

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

“A friend is a gift you give yourself.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

When you want to make your money grow, you check out investment options. What amount do you need to invest and what will be your return over time.

When I was growing up, I was taught to save 10% of everything I earned. From the berry fields to my first job after high school, there was little left to put into savings after expenses.

But it was a principle I took seriously, abided by and was always amazed at how those little deposits added up over time.

When my husband and I got married, we started out barely able to make ends meet and pay the bills. In fact the first six months of our marriage we lived with his parents.

But over the years, we continued that same principle of putting away whatever we could, investing for future years. It required discipline, self-regulation, sacrifice and commitment. But it was a diligence that paid off in huge dividends.

Investing wisely took a while to learn. Some stocks were too risky, others gave no return for an investment; but after a short period of time we learned how to invest wisely and prudently, maximizing our return while minimizing the risks.

Those Good Times

Posted by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

As we continue our series in relationships, we want to know how we can make our current relationships more meaningful and satisfying.

Exploring our past gives us information about what we bring with us into our present day relationships. We may not always find the answers we want, but we find enough clues to help re-direct, fix or change courses today.

Patterns are repeated from generation to generation.

Children growing up with an alcoholic parent are only too aware of how destructive addictions can have on the family. They swear they won’t repeat the same mistakes. Yet, more times than we want to recognize, children growing up in alcoholic families end up marrying an alcoholic or someone with an addictive personality.

We repeat what we are familiar with. It is what we know. To keep from repeating them, we need to have new information to work with.

Remembering those good times

We often forget the positive experiences we had growing up. There were those times when we knew we were loved and appreciated, complimented or encouraged. Who were involved in these affirming experiences?