Sasha's Tea Room

This time of year just before Valentine's Day is a very stressful timefor people who are struggling with the romantic relationships in theirlives. Good communication is key to maintaining and developing goodrelationships whether they are romantic by nature or not. When I readthis article from Daily Om I thought it made perfect sense in pointingout how to improve communication between people.

Daily OM:

Communication

Centering and Expressing

Expressing ourselves honestly from a centered place is essential to our sense of well-being.

Whenwe are in a relationship where we feel listened to and understood, wecount ourselves lucky because we know how rare that experience is. Wereserve our most intimate selves for the people who, along with us,cocreate an open space where we feel free to express ourselves andlisten without judgment. These relationships, which thrive on opencommunication, can mean the difference between existential lonelinessand a deep sense of belonging. We all long to feel heard, understood,and loved, and clear communication makes this possible.

Sometimesproblems arise in the process of expressing how we feel, but it isalways worth it to do the work. Even in our less intimaterelationships, expressing ourselves honestly is essential to our senseof well-being. Whether at home with family or in the outside world,successful communication requires some forethought; otherwise we riskblundering through our relationships like the proverbial bull in achina shop. However, too much forethought can stifle us or cause us topad our words so extremely that we end up saying nothing at all orconfusing the matter further. The good news is that there are manymethods that can come to our rescue, from meditation to visualizationto journaling.

If the person we need to communicate with is opento sitting in meditation together for a set period of time beforespeaking, this can be invaluable. When we are calm and centered, we cancount on ourselves to speak and respond truthfully. We can alsomeditate on our own time and then practice what we need to say. Avisualization in which we sit with the person and lovingly exchange afew words can also be a great precedent to an actual conversation. Ifwriting comes easily, we can write out what we need to say; it may takeseveral drafts, but we will eventually find the words. The key is tofind ways to center ourselves so that we communicate meaningfully,lovingly, and wisely. In this way, we honor our companions and createrelationships in which there is a genuine sense of understanding andrespect.