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Making Marriage Simple: Negativity is a wish in disguise (ch.7)

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NOTE: I’m reading through “Making Marriage Simple“, by Harville Hendrix and offering some overviews of the chapters. It’s a great go-to book for advice and practices to help nurture and restore marriage.

In ch 7, Hendrix says that negativity is a wish in disguise. This means behind the negative or hurtful thoughts, there’s an unmet desire. We long for something that is not being met. This is good news! It gives us insights as to what we CAN DO with our anger, hurt, or deep needs.

Hendrix offers simple ways to communicate these wishes in way that is responsible and clear enough for your partner to understand.

Here are a few steps (buy the book for the rest of them… 😉

1. Say it so your partner can hear (Use “I” statements such as “I feel lonely”, not “You are never home!”)

2. Be brief and clear (don’t ramble on and flood your partner with EVERYTHING)

3. Choose one frustration at a time (this will help your partner to respond)

4. Approach your partner when you’re feeling calm (it’s HOW and WHEN you say it that matters)

5. Never criticize, shame, blame, or analyze your partner.

Making Marriage Simple, by Harvile Hendrix (ch. 7)

You’ll have to read the rest for some additional tips on sharing the actual wish and behavioral change you’re looking for. It’s easy to read and understand. Go for it! Get it! 🙂

Staying Put in Your Relationship

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I’ve been reading this book on marriage by Harville Hendrix on the recommendation of a good friend whose a psycho-analyst and therapist. It’s been helpful to work through my own patterns of thinking and emotions. (link here)

It is a lot harder to find our peaceful center when looking into the face of another—especially when that “other” may not be feeling at peace with us. And when our beloved is bugging us, forget it. Peace flies right out the window! For this reason, we say that one of the greatest spiritual paths is staying put in your relationship and learning how to really love your partner, warts and all. When you can validate your partner’s experience and express empathy—even when their experience makes absolutely no sense to you.

Hendrix, Harville. Making Marriage Simple: Ten Relationship-Saving Truths

Sometimes it’s tough being the person of peace. At other (most) times, it’s tough to be the wart. What Hendrix offers is a way to slow down and show each other empathy of the deepest kind.

He says (bullets and emphasis mine):

Elevating your relationship to this status transforms the Imago Process into a spiritual practice. Like meditation and prayer, Dialogue slows you down, quiets your mind, and invites you to…

*put aside those same old thoughts you obsessively think about over and over again.

*Instead, you simply Mirror back your partner’s words, and imagine how they are feeling, truly bearing witness to their experience.

*Then when you offer them a Caring Behavior and speak to them from the Owl instead of the Crocodile, you are unleashing the neurochemistry of Love.

*This feels great to you, and is great for your partner. The Divine is waiting to show up in the Space Between.

Hendrix, Harville. Making Marriage Simple: Ten Relationship-Saving Truths .

God is present and when we choose to be empathetic, listen, and hold each other’s pain, there is sacred space between both partners. God shows up!

#MarriageStrong: Blaming

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From the Boone Center for the Family 

I’ve NEVER done this!

Blame is one of four coping reactions to pain. It’s common for “blamers” to react in an aggressive fashion that accuses another. In reaction to feeling unloved or unsafe, a blamer tends to make demands or demean others. It’s ironic that a person reacts with blame because she feels unloved or unsafe, yet in her reactivity makes others feel the very same, unloved and/or unsafe.

 

The 5-7 minute rule of talking about work with your spouse

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The 5-7 minute rule of talking about work with your spouse:

In countless counseling sessions, I’ve heard partners share their struggles with the “work conversations” when getting home after a long day. In the workplace setting, there are conflicts, crises, and criticism which takes an emotional toll.

Naturally, a spouse might want to share their work struggles with the partner because they have a safe marriage. But the problem is that the spouse hearing the lament is powerless to do anything about it. He or she can’t help with the issues and there can only be so much “listening” and “empathy” one can give. And usually, the listener doesn’t have an outlet to share the burden or pain.

All marriage partners need allies–friends, peers, support groups–to confide in so that the marriage doesn’t become the only place to share work struggles.

We’ve tried to have a 5-7 minute “talk about work” rule in our home in order to keep it minimal. Typically, the conversation might happen while we’re making dinner together and then there’s a transition of “Enough about my work…how was your day?”

We want to be a safe space for each other and not burden the other with work issues. Instead, focus on decompressing, having some confidants (preferably a therapist, coach, pastor, or trusted friend) to talk with, and using the evening to fill each other’s love tank.

The Complementarity of Man and Woman: An International Colloquium

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Videos and talks about the crisis of family and marriage from the wide landscape of Christian faith as hosted by Pope Francis.

http://humanum.it/en/

The Complementarity of Man and Woman: An International Colloquium is a gathering of leaders and scholars from many religions across the globe, to examine and propose anew the beauty of the relationship between the man and the woman, in order to support and reinvigorate marriage and family life for the flourishing of human society.

Witnesses will draw from
 the wisdom of their religious tradition and cultural experience as they attest to the power and vitality of the complementary union of man and woman. It is hoped that the colloquium be a catalyst for creative language and projects, as well as for global solidarity, in the work
 of strengthening the nuptial relationship, both for the good of the spouses themselves and for the good of all who depend upon them.

The Colloquium is sponsored by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and co-sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and
 the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

Husband or Wife? The Partner Whose Happiness Matters More For The Marriage

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Okay…I agree with this article IF it means that a happy wife is responsible for her own happiness AND that the husband can ADD to this mutually satisfying enterprise.  In other words, I don’t believe that a husband is SOLELY responsible for the happiness of his wife.  That is her inner work to do, with her husband as a partner in the journey.

I have personally noticed that I am happier when my wife is indulging herself in “personal happiness responsibility”.  It spills over into our marriage and my own life.  If she’s happy and I’m not happy, life is still okay.  I can work through with some support.  I would rather see her happy and fulfilled.  It’s easier for me to cope with life when she is in this state.  I’m sure my happiness might affect/impact her as well….That’s been my personal experience and observation.

source:

When the wife is happy with a long-term partnership, the husband is happier, no matter how he feels about the marriage.

For marital quality, it seems the wife’s happiness matters more than the husband’s.

Marriage Enrichment

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“A happy marriage is one where there is a relatively high degree of mutual need satisfaction.  Conversely, an unhappy marriage has a high degree of mutual need deprivation.  If a relationship produces chronic, unmet emotional hungers, it will diminish the self-esteem of those involved, resulting in rejection, anger, and aggression.”

– Howard Clinebell