Last week I talked about couples and families who live life on the surface, never really opening up to each other. There are many reasons for this pattern in relationships. At some point in life everyone is hurt by a relationship and we play it safe as a result. Others may have grown up in families with little or no close connection. They get accustomed to the interactions they experienced as children. But no one needs to be stuck in this pattern.
It will feel risky to change things. To start, introduce non-threatening but personal topics. For example, most of us have stories we can tell about our childhood experiences. Take turns telling each other childhood memories. What were you like as a little child? What was the worst thing that happened to you? What was the best? What was the funniest? When were you happiest? Find out all you can about each phase of each other’s life.
An easy way to do this is to get out old photo albums and look through these together, describing your childhoods as revealed in the photos. There’s no need to do this all at once. In fact, if you spend a half hour at a time and keep coming back to it, you may enjoy it more and learn more. Parents can tell children about their childhood in this way also.
Try this and I’ll offer more ideas next week.
Pleasant words are like honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24
Blessings, Dottie
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