Marriage Counseling and the Great Listener
Marriage counseling requires that all parties involved actively listen to each other during the session. It many seem obvious to say that intensive listening is needed for therapy to work properly, however you may be surprised at how many couples find it overwhelmingly difficult to really listen to one another for an entire hour straight.
Listening to each other talk for hours on end is usually one of the hallmarks of a new relationship as couples are learning all about one another. After the years pass, however, many couples listen more to the everyday distractions than each other.
Even when you describe yourself as a “Great Listener” you may be surprised at how often you are distracted away from the conversation.
Dinner conversations, once a benchmark of a healthy family, is often a series of interruptions from cell phones, and don’t think that there is a difference between talking on the phone and texting. There is no difference in the way it affects the person sitting across from you and trying to talk to you.
Many of our most complex marital problems stem from a genuine lack of listening. Most people simply want to be heard, but also need to remember to return that favor.
In addition to intensive listening, partners want to be understood, regardless of whether you agree with him or her. They want to know that you have empathy for their emotional condition, as this is a major foundation of just about any truly effective relationship.
Marriage Counseling sessions can help you remember to listen, to hear and to understand one another again.
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Very important words. I believe the hardest part of marriage communication is listening. And, most of the time, partners hear the words but miss the meaning of the words. It takes work to really hear and try to understand another person.