Relationship mood

Work Toward a Goal of Bettering Your Friendship

Make sure all your communication has a point to it: to improve your friendship. If you're saying or doing things that don't benefit the friendship, perhaps it's a good idea just to leave them alone. Ultimately, you want your friendship to be a safe place, where you both feel at ease saying what you have to say without worrying about being judged or misunderstood.

Bring Up Your Points When the Time Is Right

Very often it's not what you say, it's when and how you say it. Certain conversations just work better when the time is right.

Avoid times like this:

You're both in a hurry and need to leave.
Your friend is distracted with work or the kids.
You're at a party.
The spotlight is on someone else (at an awards banquet or birthday party, for example.)
You're in a group of people who can overhear you.
It can be difficult when you're angry with a friend, for example, and you just want to get the discussion over with because you know it will be unpleasant. But the adult thing to do is wait until you have the time to talk things through properly. Without that, you'll end up causing a bigger problem in your friendship.

Learn to Be Assertive

Many people think being assertive means walking all over people, but in fact it actually means that you confidently talk to others when you have something to say. This means that instead of waiting to let an issue build, you address it right away. Or that you confidently state your opinion, even though you know your friend disagrees. You do it with respect and don't argue, but you don't let someone else dominate the conversation either.

Being assertive means that when friends overstep their boundaries, you lovingly correct them. This helps keep arguments to a minimum and allows you to avoid those negative feelings that can build in a friendship over time.

Understanding Social Support Benefits: Strangers vs. Friends & Family
Social support shows up in our lives in various ways through our social interactions. This could mean interactions with strangers, friends, family, or even colleagues, but it’s important to understand how the type of support and benefits vary. For social support to be truly beneficial social connection has to occur which consists of three dimensions: Intimate, Relational, and Collective.

Social support shows up in our lives in various ways through our social interactions. This could mean interactions with strangers, friends, family, or even colleagues, but it’s important to understand how the type of support and benefits vary. For social support to be truly beneficial social connection has to occur which consists of three dimensions: Intimate, Relational, and Collective.

Read more https://relationship-mood.com/blog/article4

5 Communication Skills Every Couple Should Develop

It’s very common for couples to pursue counseling when communication issues begin to dominate their relationship. Does it ever feel like you and your partner keep missing each other on something? Or like your partner just doesn’t seem to get you anymore? Perhaps you feel you’ve been very clear about your perspective and it’s your partner’s problem that they just can’t seem to understand the issues from your point of view.

Blaming each other for what’s not working, although tempting, will not get you the satisfaction you so desperately desire. Whether you are struggling to navigate a difficult situation together or daily arguments have become the norm, everyone can benefit from improved communication. Here are five tips to help you get on a better track toward mutual understanding and a deeper connection:

FIND AN OPPORTUNE TIME TO TALK CALMLY ABOUT THE ISSUES.
Preserving time to check in with each other can help you be more productive. Arrange a time in the near future when you are both likely to be calm and comfortable.

Read more https://relationship-mood.com/blog/article3

Understanding Your Social Circles
In a world dominated by social media, with such an emphasis placed on the number of followers that you have on Facebook and Instagram, it’s easy to feel as though you need to prove your worth, and how likeable you are, based on the number of people you interact with, both online and off.

Sure, you might think you’re required to have a certain number of friends in your life to feel fulfilled or avoid loneliness, but that’s just not true. According to the experts, you could realistically have just five close friends and be completely socially satisfied. That definitely helps take some of the pressure off, but isn’t there some sort of secret sauce to a healthy social life?

Read more https://relationship-mood.com/blog/article5

Know What You're Going to Say

If you're the type that starts a story and doesn't know how it ends, you might be doing the same thing in daily communications with friends. Maybe you think about something you want to tell them, but your mind wanders and you end up talking about a bunch of other things instead. This is okay if it works for your friendship, but if you're having a lot of misunderstandings, it's time to use the mental edit button.

How to know if you're rambling on too much? Look out for situations like these:

Your friend became angry because they took something you said personally, but you didn't mean it that way.
Your friend assumed that you were complaining about something when you really weren't.
Your friend told you they were tired of hearing the same old stories from you.
Learn to Be Assertive

Many people think being assertive means walking all over people, but in fact it actually means that you confidently talk to others when you have something to say. This means that instead of waiting to let an issue build, you address it right away. Or that you confidently state your opinion, even though you know your friend disagrees. You do it with respect and don't argue, but you don't let someone else dominate the conversation either.

Being assertive means that when friends overstep their boundaries, you lovingly correct them. This helps keep arguments to a minimum and allows you to avoid those negative feelings that can build in a friendship over time.

Identify Times When the Message Gets Lost

Are there certain times when you and a friend usually misunderstand each other? Did you make plans over Facebook that got messed up? Or text a friend that you were going to meet them somewhere but they never showed? Or perhaps your friend got angry with you because they thought you were making fun of them in an email, when in fact you were trying to be sympathetic.

If there are certain situations that continually cause problems between you and your friend, change the way you communicate. We can get all too used to using email or Facebook, for example, instead of just picking up the phone and leaving a message. If the method of communication you're using isn't working, go with a different one. You might have to go outside your comfort zone in order to accomplish this.

Listen

By far, a lack of listening skills is the biggest problem in communication. It is the cause behind:

Hurt feelings (when a friend feels you aren't listening)
Misunderstandings (when you assume what a friend is going to say and miss the actual point)
Arguments (when you only hear a few words and get mad that your friend doesn't appear to be saying what you want them to).
Learn how to actively listen, where you fully understand what your friend is saying. In addition, it will help your friend feel that they are being heard.

A lack of communication is one of the biggest reasons friends fight and even sometimes end their friendship. Things that aren't a big deal initially get made into a big problem simply because one person didn't properly communicate to someone else.

Minimize distractions and interruptions

Minimize distractions and interruptions. It is hard to feel important to another person when she appears distracted and only half-listens to what you are saying, or when she allows multiple interruptions to take her focus away. You will find communication improves when doors are shut, cell phones are turned off, phone calls do not constantly interrupt your time together, and other external distractions are eliminated. Your physical and emotional state can impact your ability to focus, so getting enough sleep, exercise, good nutrition, and managing your stress levels will be key.