Skip to main content

Communication

There are 5 steps in order to get the right message through to another person. Have you ever sent someone an email or  text message and the other person gets upset because they think you are upset with them, but you aren't and they just read the text wrong? I know that has to happen in a relationship more times then expected.

An example that I'm going to go off of this for the steps is...  "Hey, babe just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be coming home tonight right after work. Tonight my coworkers and I are going out for dinner. I figure it will be fine with you since you went out last night with your coworkers."

The 1st step is the disarming technique. Rather than putting up a guard to defend yourself you need to drop that guard and take in all the information that is truth. In our example the truth in is that the other person had gone out the night before with their coworkers so they should be fine that they go out this night. I know a lot of girlfriends would want to text back instantly and tell them that they can't go out, but they need to know that sometimes the boyfriend needs time with their buddies (coworkers) as much as the girlfriends need it.

The 2nd step is express empathy. Show the person that you understand what happened, but it happened for the best. From the example I would say to reply with something along the lines that talks about I understand that I did go out with my friends the night before, but I did ask you before I went and I would like to feel involved and that you ask too. I don't mind that you are going out just tell me next time before.

The 3rd step is inquiry empathy. Tell the person who texted you that that you would like know more about their plan. From the example reply asking them when they are planning on being home. where they are going to dinner and some more things just so you know what is happening and you feel better about it.

The 4th step is an I feel statement. In this kind of statement you need to tell the person how it made you feel when they did what they did. From the example you need to say something along the lines I feel unwanted when you go out with your friends without telling me first. I feel like I'm always the last person to know about your plans too.

The 5th and last step is called stroking which is where you express admiration and appreciation. This one might be the hardest step there is especially if you are upset with the person. From the example saying something like I appreciate when you involve me with your plans with your friends even when you aren't inviting me or any of the other girlfriends it would be nice to be involved on the plans you have coming up.

These steps will not only shock the person who sent the text, but it will also not make the other person misinterpret the text message. Misinterpreting a text is the worst and sometimes it is hard to interpret the way the sender was trying to imply. If you want your texts to go through without being misinterpreted then use these 5 steps and it will not happen.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Parenting

All of us have grown up in different ways. Some may have grown up with both parents in the home or even only one parent in the home. Maybe even both parents, but one parent is always out of the house and they only see each other on the weekends. That one would be the hardest for me only seeing one of my parents on the weekend and the other one every single day. I'm going to tell you a little about how I was raised in my home with both my parents. As I've said in may of my other blog posts my dad is a stay at home dad. Growing up my parents had different techniques of talking to the child when they were upset. In class we talked about how parents should punish their child. How children who are talked to calmly rather then being yelled at can be more effective.  Let me tell you that I was yelled at also talked to very calmly and I'd like to say that the calmly talking hit me harder then the yelling, but they both got to me. When I got yelled at it made me fear that parent...

Crises

Have you ever had a crises in your family? If you can't think about a crises right now let me tell you what it means to have a crises. A crises normally involves more than one person in the family. I know that when I was having this lesson in class I couldn't think about a crises that I've had in my family, but now that I've had more time to think about it I have thought about a time I had a crises in my family. I've had a lot of crises happen in my life, but I will only tell you about two of them. The first one I'll talk about is when my aunt was getting a divorce from her abusive husband. They had adopted two daughters in 2012 (I believe). My grandparents went to visit my aunt, uncle and kids in Arizona when they lived there. While they were there my aunt had realized that her husband was abusive and she needed to get her and the kids out. My family in Washington was hearing all about what was happening in Arizona and all we could do was send love to my aunt...

Family Relations

Taking this class has taught me so much about the family life. My all time favorite item that we talked about that if your parents growing up weren't the best at parenting together meaning working as a team or just not the best in general then you can change that for your future children. I know that for me I want to change some parenting techniques that my parents did while I was growing up. My parents had 2 different techniques on parenting and only one of them actually worked and the other one just made me fear that parent. The technique that worked for me is the disappointed technique. I will change it a little bit so my children don't feel too bad when they get into trouble. I also really enjoyed learning about the genogram of a family. Like I said in my genogram blog my dad took on a role as father with his siblings and he still has that job today. It's been 22 years since my grandfather passed away and my dad still is taking care of his mother and his sisters. Wh...