Judy Price is Writing

Through every aspect of life, in each type of relationship, the ability to listen to and to hear what another person is saying, and to clearly and honestly impart one’s own perspective, needs or desires to the other, will ultimately determine the viability and health of the alliance.

This is especially true of an emotional relationship when two people are establishing respective roles as a couple, with perhaps the common goal of building a life together.

Whether the couple is discussing mundane issues such as household task division, planning a trip together, explaining work responsibilities and how that might impact other couple activities, relating stories regarding past experiences, making any important decisions which can impact their lives together, enjoying shared activities in and out of the bedroom, or just talking about the day, the crucial element to ‘being on the same wavelength’ is to know how to communicate effectively with one other.

Communication is a learned skill, not an innate response, contrary to the belief that some may have.  It is a required course for any student learning to be a professional counselor.

Some people learn how to practice this skill more easily and quickly than others, probably due to previous exposure to good communicators as role models.

There are various types of communication which involve verbal, written, and non-verbal skills for those with normal sight, hearing and speech capabilities.

Other types of communication for people lacking one or more of the above senses involve learning specialized skills.

This article will deal with basic communication skills for people possessing the senses of sight, sound, and speech.

An important point to remember is that no one is a ‘mind reader’.  No matter how comfortable two people are with one another  there is no way to ‘know’ the other person’s thoughts without being told.

Over time spent together learning and observing one another’s habitual ways of behaving and thinking about a variety of issues, it is possible to ‘finish one another’s sentences’ accurately, a good deal of the time. 

Knowledge of the other person gained through perception and good communication skills can lead to a form of ‘telepathy’ between two people.

Before that can occur it is worthwhile to learn how to communicate and express oneself effectively with one another.

To be continued . . .