On Purpose with Jay Shetty - 8 Principles of Communication to Improve Your Relationship and Become a Better Problem Solver

Episode Date: September 3, 2021

“I hear you. I understand that this is difficult for you. What can I do to help?” These are the words we desperately want to hear when things don’t work out in our life. We expect our partners t...o be there for us, to understand what we are feeling and why we are feeling these emotions. However, some of us don’t get to hear these words. Some of us don’t get the understanding and support we need. Some of us could no longer connect emotionally with the people we love. And this disconnection is putting a strain on our relationships. In this episode of On Purpose, Jay Shetty shares principles for us to be an effective communicator so that our partner, our family, and friends can tap on deepest emotions and so that we can tap into theirs. Like this show? Please leave us a review here - even one sentence helps! Post a screenshot of you listening on Instagram & tag us so we can thank you personally! Head over to samatea.com/onpurpose to join the tea party! If you invite 10 friends to the giveaway you can get a free mug when you refer 10 friends and purchase Sama ($25+). Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro 03:30 The number one indicator for a good human life was the quality of our relationships 07:06 Point #1: We haven’t learned to communicate with ourselves 09:57 Point #2: Your self-talk 13:31 Point #3: Let’s experiment 17:10 Point #4: Repeat what other person said, what you heard, and then what you felt 20:21 Point #5: Separate the content from the context 22:45 Point #6: Us and We, not You and Me 24:54 Point #7: Focus on what builds trust 28:43 Point #8: Find time to connect with your partner Achieve success in every area of your life with Jay Shetty’s Genius Community. Join over 10,000 members taking their holistic well-being to the next level today, at https://shetty.cc/OnPurposeGenius Grab a copy of your own Think Like A Monk book. Get the audiobook here: https://amzn.to/2THCYUu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Jay Shetty and on my podcast on purpose, I've had the honor to sit down with some of the most incredible hearts and minds on the planet. Oprah, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Hart, Louis Hamilton, and many, many more. On this podcast, you get to hear the raw real-life stories behind their journeys and the tools they used, the books they read, and the people that made a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in hours. Listen to on purpose with Jay Shetty on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the journey soon. What if you could tell the whole truth about your life, including all those tender and visible things we don't usually talk about?
Starting point is 00:00:37 I'm Megan Devine. Host of the podcast, it's okay that you're not okay. Look everyone's at least a little bit not okay these days, and all those things we don't usually talk about, maybe we should. This season I'm joined by stellar guests like Abbermote, Rachel Cargol, and so many more. It's okay that you're not okay. New episodes each and every Monday, available on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Danny Shapiro, host of Family Secrets. It's hard to believe we're entering our eighth season,
Starting point is 00:01:05 and yet we're constantly discovering new secrets. The variety of them continues to be astonishing. I can't wait to share ten incredible stories with you, stories of tenacity, resilience, and the profoundly necessary excavation of long-held family secrets. Listen to season eight of Family Secrets on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Starting point is 00:01:27 or wherever you get your podcasts. When we say things like, just trust me, you can trust me. Do you think anyone's ever trusted you and you say, you can trust me? It's kind of like saying no offense, but you're just about to say something offensive, right? It's kind of like the similar thing.
Starting point is 00:01:40 And on the other side of two stuff, we also ask, can I trust you? Can I trust you? It's like saying, can I trust you? Can I trust you? Is like saying, can I love you? And saying, oh, just trust me, is like saying, just love me. You can just love me. When we throw around words like love and trust, we forget what builds love.
Starting point is 00:02:03 Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every single one of you. I love doing these solo episodes for you with you because I really feel so lucky that I get to be in your ear twice a week and we get to spend this time together. And I am just waiting for the day that we can do an on-purpose tour and we're doing events and I get to meet you all and I get to hug you all.
Starting point is 00:02:29 I just cannot wait to be in person with you all and to see what an incredible community we've created during this time. I know so many of you have been listening for two and a half years since we launched. So many of you have been listening for two and a half months. So maybe you've just been listening for two and a half years since we launched so many of you have been listening for two and a half months. So maybe you've just been listening for two and a half episodes. Make sure you finish that episode.
Starting point is 00:02:49 I'm just so happy. And I want to share some of your incredible, incredible reviews because they make my day. So this one was from Sun. I absolutely love the episode with Esther Perrell. You are both so well spoken and give such amazing advice. I will listen to this episode again and again. I pre-ordered the game for the next one as there is such a gift. Thank you Jay for bringing us such amazing guests and teaching us to live with purpose. That was such a beautiful review. Thank you so much. I had to read this one. It says, this podcast is my happy place.
Starting point is 00:03:26 That means the world to me. I love, love, love that. And I'm going to read one more. This one is from AmeC. I just finished the Will Smith episode. Wow. So many great nuggets to live by one thing that really stuck out to me. One of you mentioned writing a letter to someone that had passed, that you didn't get a chance to settle with. My dad died last year and it was an up and down relationship my entire life. This is something I need to do as the next step in my healing process.
Starting point is 00:03:55 So thank you for the work you're doing and sharing with all of us. It's very impactful. I just want to say that it's reviews like that, that make me realize how special all of you are. The fact that you can be that open in a review, you can be that vulnerable, you can share your story. I just want to take a moment to acknowledge that, recognize that, and send lots of love your way, MEC. So today's theme is all about communication and all about relationships. This is such a big area of our lives.
Starting point is 00:04:30 We can't talk about it enough. We have to address it. And I started looking at some statistics to just help me realize how big a deal this was and how we don't give it as much importance as it deserves. So think about this for a moment. A few years ago, I interviewed Dr. Robert Waldinger on the podcast. If you've not heard it, highly recommend it. He's a Harvard professor, and he completed the 75-year study on human happiness at Harvard.
Starting point is 00:04:59 And they found that the number one indicator for a good human life, for a good human experience, was the quality of our relationships. And we all know that the quality of our relationships is based on the quality of our communication. When we hear the words, you had me at hello, right? It's the communication from the start to the end. Or I couldn't trust you the first time,
Starting point is 00:05:31 how am I going to trust you next time? This will be the last time I ever say this to you. From the first to the last moment, communication is absolutely everything. And study show, we spend about 80% of our days communicating. We say over 15,000 words on average per day. Think about that for a moment. Out of the 15,000 words you say, you know who you are of you bringing up that average,
Starting point is 00:06:00 you know exactly who you are. And if you're not laughing, that's you. That idea of how many of those words are thoughtful, how many of those words are conscious, how many of those words are intentional, and how many of them are just reactions and responses to how we're feeling or how someone makes us feel. Now, what's incredible is that communication problems from a study that I was researching says it's the most common factor that leads to divorce at 65%. This was followed study say by a couple's inability to resolve issues at 43%.
Starting point is 00:06:43 Right? of issues at 43%. And I'm reading this from the Marcia meditation group where I saw this study. Now, the causes of communication breakdown were blame, complaining. And that's about 70% of men followed by lack of sufficient appreciation from their spouses at 65%. So we can see that the biggest issues are nagging and complaining, dealing with too much of that, that's draining, and then a lack of appreciation. So what that says to me is we're spending more time complaining to our spouses than appreciating our spouses, our partners, our girlfriends, boyfriend, whoever we're with. We spend more time telling them our issues
Starting point is 00:07:28 than we do their good qualities. Now lack of validation for feelings and opinions was number one with women at 83%, followed by 56% who said their partner talks about themselves too much. So it's really interesting, right? We're saying, I feel a lack of validation, but I'm not choosing to validate your feelings either because you talk too much. It's incredible, isn't it? We want to be heard, but we don't take time to hear.
Starting point is 00:08:00 And the other person wants us to listen, but we want to be listened to at the same time. The incredible thing is that we all understand this, but we are struggling to truly, truly create an environment where people can connect. So what I want to share with you today are principles of communicating that will drastically improve your relationship. And I want to start with something that might be counterintuitive, but it's true is that the reason we struggle to communicate with anyone else is because we haven't learned to communicate with ourselves. Think about that for a moment. The reason we struggle to communicate with anyone else is because we haven't learned to communicate with ourselves. Think about that for a moment.
Starting point is 00:08:46 The reason we struggle to communicate with anyone else is because we haven't learned to communicate with ourselves. When you learn to communicate with yourself and speak to yourself effectively and understand yourself effectively, you have the opportunity to connect with someone in a deeper way. Now, I know you're all thinking,
Starting point is 00:09:04 Jay, I do not want to talk to myself. That's not what I came here for. Himmier, you would never cancel an important meeting with someone else, but you never even schedule one with yourself. When we learn to communicate with ourselves, what we're learning is how we like to be talked to. We're learning what we need. We're learning how to get to know someone and that we can then apply to someone else.
Starting point is 00:09:32 So what I want you all to do is open up your calendars. Don't get distracted now. Don't get carried away. Don't start opening up any other apps but go to your calendar. And tomorrow, I want you to put five minutes at the start of the day and five minutes at the end of the day for yourself. This is going to be you time, and I want you to schedule it to be just three minutes,
Starting point is 00:09:59 three minutes. That's 180 seconds at the beginning of day and the end of the day. I want you to sit at your table where you work from or wherever you are at the beginning of that day just before you started officially. I want you to put a three minute timer on your phone. I want you to close your eyes and I want you to ask yourself this question. What is the one thing I need to do today to make today a great day? And at the end of the day, I want you to check in with yourself by placing three minutes on the timer again and asking the question, how am I feeling?
Starting point is 00:10:40 Or do I need this evening? If you can start doing that, that is you communicating with yourself. You're learning to be empathetic. You're learning to be understanding. You're learning to validate your own feelings. You're learning to appreciate what it is that you're truly looking for. All the things that you want from someone else you're starting to do them for yourself. What does that mean?
Starting point is 00:11:10 It's not a get out of jail free card or that you don't want them to do it anymore. It's that you realize that you're already full. You're already full so that someone else can come and enhance your life. not complete it. Think about that. The next principle that I want to share with you about improving your communication is your self-talk. Now, one of my favorite studies, also by Harvard, is something I call the emotional vocabulary. I believe Harvard called it the emotions list. And the idea is that each and every one of us uses a very limited emotional vocabulary.
Starting point is 00:11:51 Let me give you an example. There are five words we use and overuse and over say again and again and again. They are good, bad, okay, fine. Right, you can relate. Hey, how's your day going? Good, how's your week been? Bad, how are you feeling? Hmm, right?
Starting point is 00:12:12 It's really common for us to respond in that way. We have a very limited emotional vocabulary. Now, what happens with that is when someone asks you how you're doing and you say, good, or you say, bad, you give them very little to connect on. I bumped into a wonderful friend that I hadn't seen for a while yesterday, a wonderful human.
Starting point is 00:12:34 And I asked him, I said, hey, it seems like you're having a lot of fun. And I was responding to what I'd seen on social media and what I got from his energy last night. But then he opened up and told me that he was going through a really tough breakup. And I honored him. I appreciated him. I acknowledged him for sharing that with me because it took so much courage and vulnerability. It would have been so easy for him to say, yeah, I'm having a great time. Things are awesome. Or he could have been saying, yeah, they're fine. Now, he didn't have to tell me.
Starting point is 00:13:09 And you don't have to tell anyone. But you have to tell someone. And remember that just because you don't want to tell everyone doesn't mean you don't have to tell someone. Authenticity does not mean you tell everyone. Authenticity means you tell the right one. Who are you sharing that with? But first, diagnose yourself. First take a moment to look at all these other words. So when you look at the Harvard emotional list, you'll see that we use words like
Starting point is 00:13:40 bad, but does that mean you're irritated, frustrated, sad, upset? When you say you're good, are you elated? Are you celebrating? Are you joyful? Are you at peace? When we get more specific about diagnosing how we feel, we can help others understand. So now when we look back at that statistic, saying that people felt that their feelings and opinions were not validated, and that's 83%.
Starting point is 00:14:06 We start realizing, well, maybe if we validated our feelings in advance, and we were sure of them, we could now communicate them better to other people. Now, instead of just sharing a complaint, we could truly say, hey, this is what I've been dealing with, and this is what I'm struggling with, rather than just lashing out and nagging and complaining about so many other things. And you may say, well, if someone loves me, they should be able to deal with that.
Starting point is 00:14:31 Sure, you could be right. But don't you want to help the person you love because they love you. They should help you in any condition. But because you love them, you should be able to share it in a better condition. Because you love them, you want to help them help you. Because you love them, you want to share it in a way that is more appropriate. So think about that, about how you can go through your own filtration process to get yourself there. Point number three.
Starting point is 00:15:08 I do this thing that I really enjoy with my clients, which I call the experiment. As soon as I say, let's experiment, they know I'm going to say something hypothetical, which doesn't have to be true, which doesn't have to be forced, which doesn't have to be a real outcome. And I enjoy communicating in this way. So I may say to Roddy sometimes, let's experiment. What if I want to go and live in Miami for
Starting point is 00:15:32 the rest of the year? And the whole point is to entertain the idea without the judgment of reality. So what would be the pros? What would be fun about it? What would we enjoy about it? What would be negative about it? What can't we do about it? And when you do it in that way, you allow yourself to have the fun you want in a relationship without the communication issues of feeling shut down, feeling closed off, feeling like the person doesn't care when you shared an amazing idea. You were like, oh, I want to go and do this for the rest of the year and the person goes, no, but we can't do that. I'm too busy. I used to do this all the time. I was shut
Starting point is 00:16:07 down with Riley because I had a busy schedule not realizing that if we experimented with an idea, we could make a plan for the future. She could go early. I could come later. Maybe we just do a weekend. Maybe we plan it for next year. There's so many opportunities. When you just say, let's experiment. Let's try that. Let's give it a go. Rather than always making things confined. A good way to learn about a place is to talk to the people that live there. There's just this sexy vibe and Montreal, this pulse, this energy. What was seen as a very snotty city, people call it pose angelus.
Starting point is 00:16:43 New Orleans is a town that never forgets its pay. A great way to get to know a place is to get invited to a dinner party. Hi, I'm Brendan Francis Newdum and not lost as my new travel podcast where a friend and I go places, see the sights and try to finagle our way into a dinner party. Where kind of trying to get invited to a dinner party
Starting point is 00:17:01 it doesn't always work out. I would love that, but I have like a Cholala who is aggressive towards strangers. I love the dogs. We learn about the places we're visiting, yes, but we also learn about ourselves. I don't spend as much time thinking about how I'm going to die alone when I'm traveling, but I get to travel with someone I love.
Starting point is 00:17:18 Oh, see, I love you too. And also, we get to eat as much. I'm very sincere. I love you too. My life's a lot of therapy goals behind that. You're so white, I love it! Listen to not lost on the iHeart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Eagleman.
Starting point is 00:17:35 I have a new podcast called Inner Cosmos on iHeart. I'm a neuroscientist and an author at Stanford University. And I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. On my new podcast, I'm going to explore the relationship between our brains and our experiences by tackling unusual questions so we can better understand our lives and our realities, like, does time really run in slow motion when you're in a car accident? Or, can we create new senses for humans?
Starting point is 00:18:09 Or, what does dreaming have to do with the rotation of the planet? So join me weekly to uncover how your brain steers your behavior, your perception, and your reality. Listen to Intercosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your reality. Listen to Intercosmos with David Eagleman on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jay Shetty and on my podcast on purpose I've had the honor to sit down with some of the most incredible hearts and minds on the planet. Oh, pro. Everything that has happened to you can also be a strength
Starting point is 00:18:46 builder for you if you allow it. Kobe Bryant. The results don't really matter. It's the figuring out that matters. Kevin Haw. It's not about us as a generation at this point. It's about us trying our best to create change. Luminous Hamilton. That's for me being taken that moment for yourself each day. Being kind to yourself because I think for a long time I wasn't kind to myself. And many, many more. If you're attached to knowing, you don't have a capacity to learn. On this podcast, you get to hear the raw real-life stories behind their journeys and the tools they used, the books they read, and the people that made a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in hours.
Starting point is 00:19:24 Listen to on purpose with Jay Shetty on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the journey soon. So that communication technique has been huge for me with anyone and everyone, because it allows you to entertain a thought. That's what an experiment for me is.
Starting point is 00:19:43 It allows you to entertain a thought without the judgment that comes with the reality of it. And then you can ground it in reality after you've experienced the excitement. Often our biggest issue is when someone doesn't experience the excitement we do. And I have a really inconvenient truth to share. No one can. We can't really experience someone else's experience. Even if we had the same external experience, two people could go kayaking. I just went kayaking, that's what I thought of that. But two people could go kayaking in the most beautiful location and have two completely different experiences. So when we share something exciting with our partners,
Starting point is 00:20:32 when we share something interesting with them, don't be disheartened if they're not as excited as you because they can't be as excited about the experience, they can be excited for you, but they can't be as excited about the experience. They can be excited for you, but they can't be as excited as you. And that has really helped me in my life. Where I started to realize that the people that loved me could be excited for me, but they couldn't be as excited as me. And that allowed me to not judge them or think they had out here in motives or think that
Starting point is 00:21:03 they were envious or jealous or all the things that our mind makes up and maybe some of which is true, but they helped me realize that. No one can be excited about my life as I am and that's fine, but maybe they can be excited for me and that's beautiful. So that's the experiment that I wanted to share. Now the next principle number four that I'm going to share with you is something that is repeated in therapy and coaching for years, but I have to say it again because I don't see people practicing it
Starting point is 00:21:32 and I catch myself forgetting to practice it. Repeat what the other person said and repeat what you heard and repeat what you felt. First, repeat what they said so that they know that you actually listened, then what you heard and then what you felt. We've responded in the opposite order.
Starting point is 00:21:55 We say what we feel first, right? And we then don't even get to anything else. We say, oh yeah, but you said this, right? And so we're going to feeling first, then said, and then we think about what we heard, right? It's actually what did they say? What did you hear? And how did it make you feel? So let me give you an example. If someone says, I think that we should go to New York next week. I'll be like, yeah, easy for you to say you. I'm gonna busy schedule like mine Right notice how that's a feeling. It's not actually responding to what has been asked
Starting point is 00:22:34 Or the proposal it's responding with a feeling That's not ideal because now you're responding with your feeling now you've changed changed the conversations. The person goes, oh, I didn't mean that. I'm just really excited about going to New York. I'm really looking forward to it. I think we should try it out. I think it'll be a really good trip. You're responding with your feeling and you're like, yeah, but you know I'm busy. You said that without even thinking about her busy, I am.
Starting point is 00:23:00 And now the conversation, which was just about, hey, should we think about something exciting of going to New York? We've lost the concept. So instead, what you would say is, hey, so what I think you're saying is, you wanna go to New York, does it have to be next week? Is there a time for him that you're thinking about? Is there some time that it makes sense?
Starting point is 00:23:20 Is there reason why next week? And now you give the person an opportunity to say, yeah, my reason is that my best friends birthday's there next week or I've got a group of people I love going there next week. And, you know, I would really love to go. So you've started a conversation. Now let's look at a more complex situation
Starting point is 00:23:37 where someone says, you made me feel embarrassed when you didn't introduce me to your friend. Now, they're telling you how they feel, but now if you respond with how you feel, it goes, yeah, well, I felt embarrassed when you didn't invite me to that party. Again, you've responded with a feeling as opposed to saying, hey, what I'm hearing you say is that when I did that thing, it made you feel this way.
Starting point is 00:24:04 Tell me why it made you feel that way. What was it specifically about that that made you feel that way? Because what I'm hearing is that you're upset with me. And the way that makes me feel is sad because I've never done that before and I just forgot and I didn't know their name and I'm so sorry. Notice how it changes the conversation.
Starting point is 00:24:22 So when someone tells you how they feel do not respond with a feeling, respond with repeating what they said, what you heard, and then what you felt when it gets to it. The next principle, number five, is when you're communicating, you have to separate the content from the context. And that's why listening is such an important skill. Do not be distracted when you're listening. If you need to tell someone to come back later, finish your call, finish your text message, finish an email, it's better to do that
Starting point is 00:24:54 than to try and multitask. This has been a huge run in relationships. So when someone responds to you, it says something to you, we usually take their content to be everything without looking at their context. If I'm having a bad day and someone says to me, Jay can have a minute, I might be a bit like,
Starting point is 00:25:15 yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure, and I'm stressed out. So now I'm saying sure in my content, but the person's hearing my context, but they don't know what the context is, they take you personally. Don't take it personally, because the context is not about you. The content may be about you. Sure, I can do that.
Starting point is 00:25:34 No, I can't do that, but the context is what is driving the way you're receiving the content. So, a great listener can create an understanding and know the difference between what is content from what I'm hearing and what is context from what I'm hearing. And that in a relationship is huge. So I'll often say to Rady, if I hear that the context is off, I'll say, Rady, I, hey, something going on,
Starting point is 00:25:59 are you okay right now? So instead of making it about my feelings again, instead of making about me again, you're giving the other person the opportunity. Now, I know what you're thinking, you're the one that always does that. And you never get hurt. Well, let's talk about if you've asked to be hurt in a non-conflict-based situation. Again, the context affects the content. If you're screaming and shouting and saying, you never listen to me, you never make time for me. Now the context is drowning out the content.
Starting point is 00:26:30 You want the content to drown out the context. So in the right straight of my mind, you say, hey, can you let me know this week when we can just sit down for a couple of hours have an idea I want to share with you? Let me know who to best schedule it with, where can I get that time, where can we make it? I really appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:26:44 Even with your partner, see, we think that that's unemotional or unloving to do in our partnership. It's not. Everyone's busy. Everyone is so much on. And to be conscious of that is so powerful. Now, this next one is really interesting because it's almost from sales, marketing, business, but it really applies in relationships. When you're sharing something with someone,
Starting point is 00:27:07 first start by saying how something affects them. Then it how it affects you, and then how it affects you both together. So if I have a travel trip coming up, I may say to Rady, I may say, hey, this might affect these dates in your life. So I want you to think about what you might be doing at this time. I'm going to be traveling from, you know, 17th of September to the 24th of September. And I just wanted to know if you wanted to
Starting point is 00:27:37 come with me or if you didn't. So if I started off by saying, hey, I'm traveling from the 17th to the 24th of September, let me know what you're up to. Do you want to come with me? The problem with that is, is you're starting with you. You're starting with about you. And now when someone's hearing that, they're also hearing it as about you. When actually what you wanted to do, your intention was to understand how it affects them. So when you're formulating what you share now, you're saying, Jay, this is so deep and it's so detailed, I'm going to forget all this, we'll write it down and practice it. I'm giving you formulas and methods to avoid that 65% of people breaking up because of communication problems or the inability to resolve issues 43%, which by the way is usually
Starting point is 00:28:22 not big stuff. It's like who washed the dishes? It's like who didn't clean up today? That's the stuff people are arguing about and having unresolved issues over. This is one of my favorite communication methods. I call it us and we, not you and me. I always try and use us and we. This is how we can overcome this. This is better for both of us. Us together, we can get over this. If you're saying, you're just always like this, and I'm never going to understand that.
Starting point is 00:28:56 Notice how different that is. You're no longer on the same team. You're no longer connected. You're no longer coming to this from a position of strength. The eighth principle I want to share with you is something that I've been thinking about for a long time. They say that the greatest cause of inefficiency in companies but also relationships is a lack of trust.
Starting point is 00:29:22 The problem is we're always trying to build trust. And the only way to build trust is don't try to build trust. Let me explain what I mean. If you want to build trust, you need to use and focus on that which builds trust. If you're trying to build a home, you don't build a home, you lay the bricks, you lay a foundation, right? It's the bricks and the foundation that make a home, you don't make a home by making a home. And actually, you may even say that's a house, a home is made through the love and the energy. So there are four pillars to building trust. Vulnerability, simplicity, transparency, and reliability. If you want someone to trust you, you have to show that you are vulnerable,
Starting point is 00:30:17 you have to show you are transparent, you have to explain things simply, and you have to be reliable. And if you want to check whether someone's trustworthy, these are the qualities you look for. It's hard to know whether you can trust someone. Most of us just trust someone because they're nice, because they're good looking, because someone we know knows them. We don't actually think about trust in a deep way, but trust has big roots.
Starting point is 00:30:44 And we say things like, just trust me, you can trust me. Do you think anyone's ever trusted you and you say, you can trust me? It's kind of like saying no offense, but you're just about to say something offensive, right? It's kind of like this similar thing. And on the other side of two stuff, we also ask, like, can I trust you? Can I trust you? It's like saying, can I love you? And saying, oh, just trust me, it's like saying, just love me. You can just love me. When we throw around words like love and trust, we forget what builds them. So instead of trying to get people to trust me or trying to see if people are trustworthy,
Starting point is 00:31:16 I want to see if I can be vulnerable with them and I can trust them with my vulnerability. How do they respond to it? When I see something vulnerable, I remember someone I was speaking to recently that I was coaching, the guy they were dating shits something really vulnerable about something that happened before their relationship. And they were so struck by it. I was like, you need to see this as an opportunity to be empathetic to their vulnerability. The thing is, we want people to be vulnerable, but then we don't want to deal with their vulnerability.
Starting point is 00:31:53 Right? Everyone wants their partner to come to them, maybe depend on them a little, but then we don't want someone dependable. We can't have it both ways. If you want to build trust, you have to be vulnerable. And encourage vulnerability. I'll ask someone a open question, and their depth of vulnerability they share with me makes me realize the depth of vulnerability They want to have with me. I don't try and force them to be more vulnerable But I realize that they're showing me where they're at people are showing you where they're at by how they act Don't force more vulnerability out of them now. You may be a bit more vulnerable and see how they respond to that But if you express more vulnerability and they don't follow, they have shown you where they are at. Let's talk about simplicity. I always think about how can I explain this
Starting point is 00:32:31 to a five year old or four year old? It's someone really simple. When you think about things in that world, things become so much easier in relationships rather than trying to explain things in a really intellectual way. Now transparency and reliability are more obvious. Transparency is what it is,
Starting point is 00:32:47 and reliability is what it is. If you're recurrently late, there's a pattern, you're becoming unreliable, you're not trustworthy. The final thing I wanna share with you in relationships is you don't need to set daily time to connect. You don't need to always have the opportunity to do that, but you need to have a weekly time and a monthly time to connect. And that requires us to disconnect from our devices.
Starting point is 00:33:11 When you are with your partner, put your phone away. Please, we'll change so much. Thank you so much for listening today. This has been one of my favorite episodes. There have been so many incredible insights in this. I hope you're going to share this with your friends. I hope you're going to listen to it again. I hope you're going to pass it on. friends. Hope you're going to listen to it again. I hope you're going to pass it on.
Starting point is 00:33:26 And please keep leaving reviews. I love reading them. And I love seeing what you're sharing on Instagram. I honestly keep a tab on all of it myself. I'm following. I'm sharing a lot of those posts. Keep them coming. Thank you so much for listening on purpose.
Starting point is 00:33:40 I'll see you soon. Okay, look everyone's at least a little bit not okay these days and all those things we don't usually talk about Maybe we should this season. I'm joined by stellar guests like Abbermote reach Cargol and so many more It's okay that you're not okay new episodes each and every Monday available on the iHeart Radio app or wherever you listen to podcasts Our 20s often seen as this golden decade our time time to be carefree, make mistakes, and figure out our lives. But what can psychology teach us about this time? I'm Gemma Speg, the host of the Psychology of Your 20s. Each week, we take a deep dive into a unique aspect of our 20s, from career anxiety, mental health, heartbreak, money, and much more to explore the science behind our experiences.
Starting point is 00:34:45 The psychology of your 20s hosted by me, Gemma Speg. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Debbie Brown, host of the Deeply Well Podcast, where we hold conscious conversations with leaders and radical healers and wellness around topics that are meant to expand and support you on your well-being journey. Deeply well is your soft place to land, to work on yourself without judgment, to heal, to learn, to grow, to become who you deserve to be. Deeply well with Debbie Brown is available now on the iHeartRad Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Starting point is 00:35:29 Namaste.

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