I recently watch an Oprah show that had Wynonna and Niomi Judd on it. The Judd's were my absolute favorite singers when I was younger. I love love love them!
Over the years they have spent many hours in therapy as their relationship has always been very strained. They shared a few of their learned communication keys that work with any relationship in your life with Oprah and I really liked what they had to say so figured I’d pass them along.
1. ‘Is this a good time for you’. Whether it’s wanting to have a discussion with someone, or simply phoning a friend to chat, being considerate of their time is important and asking if this is a good time for them shows that.
2. ‘What I hear you saying is’. I like this one as I know all too often I come out of a conversation with my husband, mom, boss or just a friend and I think I’ve understood the outcome. And so have they, yet we each have different ideas of what that outcome is. By repeating back to someone it gives you a chance to confirm that you are both on the same track.
3. ‘Do over’. I think this one is great, especially for moms. If you ever snap or react to someone quickly without thinking and don’t like your response after you’ve thought about it, ask for a do-over. Perhaps it would come with an apology, depending on how bad your reaction was.
4. ‘That doesn’t work for me’. I know we all have a tough time saying no. Either you can’t turn down someone needing you or you don’t want to sound rude. Well this is a better way to respond to someone especially if it’s followed by what does work for you. Example: “Wednesday night does not work for me. But Thursday morning works very well for me”.
I love all this ideas and am trying to implement them into my life which will hopefully increase and open the communication which will in turn create a better relationships.
