Disappointment vs. Trust

Which do you find more damaging to a relationship? Disappointing your partner by speaking your mind in a respectful way, knowing they won't like the response? Or eroding the trust from the relationship? If you chose the latter, then keep reading...

If trust is essential to the foundation of a relationship, then isn't it interesting how many couples will refrain from saying what how they really feel to their partner for the fear of disappointing them? As a result, people will enter into agreements they really don't agree to. This can be as simple as what they want for dinner to weekend plans to having sex. Through this process, resentment starts to build towards your partner and towards yourself, which begins the erosion of trust, as you have lied to yourself and your partner.

So while disappointing your partner may not be pleasant, it's important to consider what the consequence would be if your partner realizes that you've been dishonest with them after the fact. Small mistruths over time can result in an erosion of trust in the relationship. So do you still think it's worth "biting your tongue?"

Starting off the New Year Right!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a peaceful and joyous holiday season as we start the 2nd decade of the new millenium...

The holidays are stressful for many people. You can either choose to linger onto the tension that was created by family, friends or loved ones, or you can learn from it and bring those lessons with you into 2010. Holding onto anger and becoming resentful of your partner doesn't provide you the space needed to foster a loving relationship. Take a look at what you can do differently when your partner begins to evoke negative feelings within you and realize you have the control to respond differently. You don't have to engage in an argument if you don't want to. You don't have to respond to your partner when you know you're being baited into conflict.

It's easy to think, "Sure... you say that, but if I don't respond they're going to get angry with me!" That may be true, but think of this...If you're about to get baited into an argument, then your partner is going to get angry anyway. So either way, the result is an angry partner. But it doesn't mean you have to get angry with them. Look at how you would choose to handle a situation and make a commitment to follow through with that choice. If a peaceful, sit-down discussion is your preference, but your partner isn't in the frame of mind to handle such an interaction, then do what you must to maintain your own boundaries. Your partner will either consider your feelings or they won't, but at least you will have maintained your level of integrity in the situation.

Happy New Year!!

Integrity

When you picture someone who has integrity, what characteristics do this person have? You might think of someone who follows through on their commitments, is honest with others, is reliable, and possibly many other characteristics of this nature. There's another characteristic, which many people overlook. To have integrity means not only to be honest with others but to be honest with oneself.

If you agree to decisions or go along with situations within your relationship that you truly don't agree with in order to "keep the peace," or "not rock the boat," then how honest are you being with yourself? How much integrity are you demonstrating to yourself? To your partner? To the relationship? In the short-term, it may seem like you are "keeping the peace," but if the situation/decision begins to gnaw at your gut, then this will only foster resentment in the long run... but the resentment won't be about your partner, it'll be about the choice you made in the beginning to agree to a situation to which you (if you were honest with yourself in the first place) didn't agree with initially.

So, is it really worth maintaining silence when that silence will later result in resentment? Only you can answer this... but also ask yourself, "Is this really worth compromising my integrity?"