Two sides to Every Story

In counseling with a friend about her relationship, it became really clear why communication is ALWAYS cited as one of the most important characteristics of a relationship. We know through our research that communciation is just one of the important stages or aspects of a relationship, but it is a critical one. We believe that you cannot have effective communication if you have not yet developed a certain level of trust. In order to open up and be 100% honest with you, I must first be able to trust that you will not have an adverse reaction to the feelings that I am sharing. Even once you have gotten to the point of truly communicating there is and will always be two sides to every story. You will interpet something; a touch, a look, a word, even silence one way and someone else experiencing the EXACT same thing will view it a totally different way. The difference is a fact of life - just as certain as the sun rising in the East and setting in the West. But, it is also what makes us unique and makes relationships interesting. The trick is to see past the different interpretations and get to a place of true, unfiltered communication - it is one of the best tools that you have!