On Purpose with Jay Shetty - 8 Steps to Save Any Relationship & Stop Ruining It

Episode Date: November 3, 2023

Have you ever found yourself comparing your current partner to someone from your past?  Are you wondering why your current relationship isn’t as happy as it used to be? If you’re currently strugg...ling with keeping your relationship afloat, then this episode is for you.  We all know that effective communication is the key to maintaining healthy connections, and I am here to guide us on how to better express our thoughts and concerns to our loved ones. Here's the first golden rule in improving your relationships – someone's past behavior doesn't define them today. And it's not just about their actions; it's about what you bring to the table as well.  Let's take a look at crucial insights on how we tend to fill in the gaps with our own assumptions, the importance of asking the right questions, and why criticism rarely leads to positive change. And always consider the significance of seeing vulnerability as strength and not putting your loved ones down in public. In this episode, you'll learn: The reasons why relationships fail How to avoid actions that ruin relationships How to become a better listener How to communicate yourself effectively We're in for a heartfelt discussion that will surely help you strengthen your relationships and take a step closer to the happier, healthier connections you deserve. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 01:38 How to Better Communicate Issues in Your Relationship 03:31 #1: Someone's Behavior Doesn’t Make Them The Same As Someone You Were With Before   09:01 #2: Don't Fill In Uncertainties Mentally 13:26 #3: We All Have A Long List Of Needs 18:12 #4: Ask Yourself These Three Questions 20:38 #5: Criticism Doesn’t Help Change, Coaching Does 23:27 #6: Seeing Opening Up As A Weakness  26:33 #7: Criticism Is Often Linked With Comparison 27:20 #8: Don’t Put Them Down In Public Want to be a Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach? Get the Digital Guide and Workbook from Jay Shetty https://jayshettypurpose.com/fb-getting-started-as-a-life-coach-podcast/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The street stoic podcast is back. We are combining hip hop lyrics and quotes from some of the greatest to ever grace a microphone. It's a line from Lauren Hill and she says, don't be a hard rock when you really are again. Along with ancient wisdom from some of the greatest philosophers of all time. Seneca, right? And he says,
Starting point is 00:00:21 your mind will take shape of what you frequently hold in thought for the human spirit is Colored by such Impression listen a season two of the street stoic podcast on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts Remember this criticism doesn't help change coaching does this is Probably my number one thing and it's what I experienced with my wife, Rady, that transformed how I felt about this. I found when I was in relationships that,
Starting point is 00:00:53 there'd be critical of how I spent my time, there'd be critical of whatever it may be. Rady was one of the first people that I ever met that didn't criticize me. There was coaching, there was opportunities, there was questions, there was curiosity, but there wasn't criticism. Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world where you are investing in becoming happier, healthier and more healed. I genuinely love hearing from you and I'm walking around. I just finished an event
Starting point is 00:01:28 in Dallas where I was doing a corporate speaking engagement and so many of you from the audience were saying that on purpose is a part of your daily ritual, whether you're listening while you're in the gym or walking your dog or your commute. It means the world to me that I get to be your workout partner, even though I don't get the benefits of the workout. But I love being your commute partner, I love being your workout partner, I love being the podcast that you're dissecting with your friends. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who's allowing me to be me and allowing me to be seen as well when I'm sitting down with someone that people may not expect me to
Starting point is 00:02:02 sit with when I'm having conversations that people don't expect me to sit with when I'm having conversations that people don't expect me to have or when I'm recording an episode like one of these where I'm tackling a difficult topic. Thank you for seeing me, thank you for hearing me out. I'm so grateful to you. And today's episode is something that I've been thinking about for a long time. And what's really interesting about it
Starting point is 00:02:25 is that I'm meeting so many people who keep asking me, Jay, I wanna save my relationship. Jay, I want to, you know, I wanna stop ruining my relationship. I feel like I'm sabotaging my relationship based on my behavior, based on the way I talk to my partner, the way I talk about my partner. And we may not say I wanna save my relationship or I wanna stop ruining it,
Starting point is 00:02:47 but I think we all recognize that we want our relationships to be better, we want our relationships to improve, and we wanna be in a position where we're not feeling like we're the one taking our relationship a few steps backwards, right? Maybe you felt before that you said something and you're like, that just set me back two years. Or maybe you did something and you're like,
Starting point is 00:03:07 oh, that just set us back a few months. I thought we were out of that place. I thought I was out of that place. And so today I want to give you some steps and strategies as to how we cause issues in our relationships and how we can actually better communicate them. I don't think having challenges and issues is abnormal. I would actually say that it's more normal. But I think the way we communicate them and the way we make our partners aware, the way we
Starting point is 00:03:37 carry that awareness makes a big difference as to how that becomes an argument and a disagreement versus a healthy discussion, a debate or a curiosity. And I think that's what I find so fascinating about relationships is that you can have the same conversation, but one can be with affection and still be assertive, and one can be full of argumentative, poorly articulated points of view. So, one of the first ways that we begin to ruin relationships, and if we want to save ours, what we need to be really mindful of, is don't assume someone's behavior makes them the same
Starting point is 00:04:21 as someone you were with before. Often when we see similar behavior patterns, we assume that the current person is doing it for the same reasons as the person we were with before. So let's say for example, this person goes really quiet when you have an argument. Now your last partner went quiet,
Starting point is 00:04:43 but eventually you figured out that's because they didn't care. Now, with this partner, when they go quiet, you think they must be going quiet because they don't care, right? It's very normal as humans to draw that parallel, to connect the dots, to feel that's the pattern. Let me take another example. Maybe this partner of yours,
Starting point is 00:05:02 let's say they always forget to take the trash out or they forget to stock up the refrigerator when they finish something, right? A daily thing that could happen. Now your last partner did that and what you figured out eventually is that they were not very thoughtful, that they were not conscientious, and with this partner, maybe they're busy. Maybe they've just had a lot going on. Maybe they have done it before and right now, they're just going through a really tough time. What I find is that when we assume,
Starting point is 00:05:30 when we believe we know why our partner is acting the way they're acting, because we're basing it on previous experience. Not only is this a very normal and coherent thing to do, it's expected for us to do, but it sets us up for failure because A, you never get to know the intentions of the person you're currently with. B, the last person is somewhat irrelevant and insignificant to this relationship. And three, you stop being curious and you come to a conclusion. Whenever we stop becoming curious with our partners and we draw conclusions without information,
Starting point is 00:06:10 without insight, without data, without questions, we are setting our relationship up to fail. We're going to struggle to save that kind of a relationship because we've already made our mind up as to why someone behaves the way they do. Now let's say it is their reason, maybe it is their reason, right? Maybe that is why they are behaving that way, but it's really important to check. So in that situation, it's so important to go up to someone and say, Hey, I noticed that you've done this or done this.
Starting point is 00:06:42 So I've noticed that you go quiet during an argument, can you tell me why that is? Now notice how different that is to the question we usually ask. The question we usually ask is, why do you go so quiet? You probably don't care, right? That projection of the previous person
Starting point is 00:06:56 not only is existing in our mind and our belief system, it's actually articulated to them. You probably don't care. That's where you go quiet. Now what does that do? That sets off alarm bells for them and they go, well, no, no, I do care. I'm not going quiet. Why would you think that? Right? And now you've started going down a route that doesn't solve the problem. The problem was they go silent. The problem wasn't that they go silent because they don't care. So saying to someone, you're
Starting point is 00:07:21 always so quiet, you don't care about me, versus saying to them, I noticed and observed that you often go quiet when we're having a tough discussion or having an argument, what's your reasoning? Where does that come from? Now, that person may not have an answer straight away. They may not even be aware of why they go quiet. They may not even be aware that they do go quiet.
Starting point is 00:07:42 And this is what I find is so common in relationships that we don't have that awareness. We don't have that consciousness. And we don't recognize that sometimes people are so unaware of their own behavior. And we don't give them time. We don't give them space. We don't give them an opportunity
Starting point is 00:08:01 to articulate that or become conscious. So they may say, I don't go quiet. And we go, yes, you do. Here are three examples of when you went quiet. Now what have we done? We've put them on the defensive. What have we've done? We've made them feel inadequate. And what have we done?
Starting point is 00:08:12 We've made them feel like they don't know themselves, rather than saying, well, think about it for a certain amount of time. I'd love to hear how you feel you deal with arguments. Notice how different that is. Now, when we want that immediate instant response to feel better, this is the question we have to ask ourselves. Are we trying to feel better about ourselves in the moment? Is that why we're arguing? Or are we trying to solve the root of the issue? And I find that those two questions will very quickly let you decipher whether
Starting point is 00:08:42 you're going to win or whether you're going to lose. If you're trying to figure out how to solve the real problem, you are always going to win. If you're trying to feel better in the moment, you are likely to create more long-term issues. Please use that checking question. My way for these cookbook is launching on February 27th. It's called Joyful and will help you cook plant-based dishes effortlessly. I'm so excited for her recipes to be in your hands so you can make them in your home for the people you love the most. And it would mean the world to me if you go to j-o-y-f-u-l-l-book.com to pre-order now for an exclusive video and a Daily Wellness Guide for free made by Radi. Again,
Starting point is 00:09:26 that's joyfullbook.com, j-o-y-f-u-l-l book.com and you get your free daily wellness guide made by Radi. Now point number two, don't fill in uncertainties mentally. This is often similar to the first idea, but now it's not based on someone you dated in the past, it's based on your own imagination. So don't fill in uncertainties mentally. We project our insecurities onto someone else.
Starting point is 00:09:57 I'll give you an example. Let's say you just got your hair done, or let's say you just tried a new hairstyle, or let's say you bought a new hairstyle or let's say you bought a new top or skirt or you bought a new pair of jeans or you bought whatever it is, right? And this applies to everyone of all genders. And you're hoping that when you walk through the door or when you're ready for date night, your partner's going to say, you look amazing. You look great. Oh, I love that new fit on you. I love that new jacket on you and you're
Starting point is 00:10:24 waiting for it. Whatever it may be, you're waiting for that compliment. Oh, I love that new fit on you. I love that new jacket on you and you're waiting for it. Whatever it may be, you're waiting for that compliment. Now, they don't say it. And in your head, you start thinking, oh, they don't think I'm cute anymore. They're not attracted to me anymore. Or maybe the head doesn't look good. Maybe I was wrong. Oh, I should have told the address. I didn't want to try this out. Maybe they're attracted to someone else. Maybe they're not into me anymore. Right. So what we've done is we had an expectation that we never communicated based on something that we thought about. We now, when that expectation is not met, we are filling that space between our expectation
Starting point is 00:11:00 and what we've received with mental chatter based on our insecurities. There is no fact there. There is no checking there again. And what does that do? It starts to paint a narrative about your relationship that is only based on your imagination, your opinion. So you're now painting a whole narrative about how someone feels about you without even knowing anything, based on an inaction. The idea is they didn't say anything and that has made you think something. Notice how we wouldn't allow that to happen to our friend. If our friend did
Starting point is 00:11:37 that, we'd say, well, you don't know if that's true. Like, hey, you hit does look good. And, you know, hey, I didn't even notice that you had your head done, right? It's, I've got so much going on, maybe they missed out. But when it comes to our own lives, we just assume. And by the way, we do this in multiple relationships, not just romantic ones at work. Your boss doesn't say you did well at work. Straight away, we're like, oh, I'm not getting promoted,
Starting point is 00:11:57 I'm getting fired, right? They didn't talk about me at lunch. I saw them talk about someone else. And all of a sudden, we're assuming and we're filling the gaps in with our own mental insecurity and mental chatter. So all of that being said, what do we do? Imagine you sat down with your partner and said to them in the car. Usually what happens in the car is you're then silent with them because they didn't say
Starting point is 00:12:20 anything. You're upset with them. They're wondering what's going on with you and they're like, yeah, I thought we were excited about tonight. What's going on? And you're like, yeah, I thought we were excited about tonight what's going on. And you're like, oh, nothing, it doesn't matter. And they're like, no, no, no, no, tell me what happened. And you're like, oh, it doesn't matter. And then you're like, God, you just never notice me anymore.
Starting point is 00:12:34 I feel like you don't love me anymore, right? You make a statement that is so overarching. Then they go, no, of course I love you. I think you'll be up for it. And they're like, well, why didn't you tell me then, right? Now the conversation sounds irrational. You know you sound irrational, but you got be up for them. Then you're like, well, why didn't you tell me then? Now the conversation sounds irrational. You know you sound irrational, but you've got to stick to it. Right, you've got to stick to your irrationality
Starting point is 00:12:51 because you've gone down that road. Now let's talk about how that conversation could have been handled differently. Maybe you say to them, hey, I want to share with you and this is a tool that I love in coaching and it also comes up in therapy is talking to someone about the expectation you had and how you feel.
Starting point is 00:13:05 So saying to your partner, hey, so I came down with the expectation that I felt like I looked great and I wanted to do that for you. And when you didn't tell me that I looked beautiful, I felt like maybe you didn't like what I was wearing and I just wanted to hear how you felt about it. I just wanted to hear your thoughts.
Starting point is 00:13:23 And then you part of this to say, you know what, actually, I'm so sorry, I've just had so much on at work right now. I had a really crazy day. I'm really excited for date night, but I wasn't in the zone. Or they get to say, hey, you know what, actually, I'm not sure I love that jacket, but I love it for you. And now you've got to realize that
Starting point is 00:13:39 that that's what a good, healthy conversation looks like. Right, you don't want your partner to lie to you and say that they love you in your hair or love whatever it is just to make you feel better. But sometimes we pressurize our partners and we pressurize the people in our lives to tell us they love everything we do. Because we're not open to that feedback.
Starting point is 00:13:54 We're not open and curious to what they actually think. So I want you to again, check, check before you fill the gaps with your insecurities. Now point number three, how do you save any relationship and stop ruining it based on your past? One of the biggest mistakes we make or the way we've ruined relationships is we all have a long list of needs.
Starting point is 00:14:15 They may be compliments, it may be reassurance, it may be advice on our new startup, it may be investment advice, it may be money advice, it may be advice on dealing with our parents. Often the way I see it is, especially when I'm coaching clients and working with people, a lot of people want their partner
Starting point is 00:14:34 to be their therapist, their coach, their business partner, and their friend. Sometimes even their mom and their dad, right? A lot of us want our partners to be our therapist, our coaches, our business partners, our friends, and potentially even act like our parents. Sometimes. Now, what does that do?
Starting point is 00:14:53 First of all, no one has the ability to be all of those. And second of all, even those people don't have the ability to be those things perfectly. Right? Our parents aren't perfect. Our friends aren't perfect. A business partner is not perfect. Even a therapist and a coach are not perfect. So not only is it impossible for even those professions to play those roles perfectly, we're now expecting one person to perfectly play
Starting point is 00:15:16 five roles that are individually extremely difficult. A therapist takes years of training, coaches take years of great training, right? Businesses take years of great practice. A friend takes years to build. And parents, of course, I mean, that can take decades to get right. But it's really fascinating that we have a long list of needs and we want our partner to not only be able to play one of them, we want them to be able to adapt. And by the way, I didn't even say partner yet. We want them to be our husband or our wife. Right, we want them to play that role too. And we want them to be a perfect dad or mom or parent
Starting point is 00:15:54 or whatever it may be. So just think about how many roles we're expected to play. And maybe your partner's the person who expects it of you. And think about how many roles you're expecting your partner to play. So here's how I want you to think about it. I love this tool and I recommend doing it right now. I want you to write down everything you love doing and everything you love feeling.
Starting point is 00:16:15 So you may say, I love going to watch basketball. You may say, I love feeling reassured. Right, what are the things that you want from other people? Now first, what I'm going to remind you, I want you to do those things with yourself. I am going to double down on the solitude point. Take yourself to a basketball game. Give yourself compliments. Reassure yourself for sure.
Starting point is 00:16:36 But there are other episodes on that and eight rules of love dives deeply into that in chapter one. But in this episode, I want to talk to you about this idea of have a list of Things that you really want to feel and do in life and I want you to write the name of a different person Next to each of those so for basketball you're like, all right. Yeah, my friend loves basketball great Okay, I want to go watch dance performances. All right, which one of my friends loves dance. Okay, perfect Okay, I want to feel Confident and reassured. Okay, which one of my friends makes me feel that way? Or maybe my sister makes me feel that way. Okay, great.
Starting point is 00:17:07 Now, I want to feel complemented. Oh, I don't get compliments from anyone actually. All right, I'm going to compliment myself first, but I would love to receive them from my partner. So what you do is you start finding different people in your life that play different roles. Some for business advice, some for life advice, some to just hear your pains, whatever it may be.
Starting point is 00:17:26 And the beauty of that is you start recognizing that you have so many other people in your circle. And if you start recognizing you don't have people in your circle, you are now very accountable to go and build those relationships. When we don't want to be accountable for building these relationships, we make our partners accountable to fill that gap. That ruins relationships. Rather than going, I love my sister for this,
Starting point is 00:17:53 I love my mom for this, I love my partner for this, I love this for this, whatever it may be, right? Finding people, like for example, my wife loves high intensity workouts. I really don't like high intensity workouts. And if my wife wanted to do that with me, I wouldn't be able to keep up with her. I wouldn't be able to fulfill that need. Right? There are some things she wants to talk to her sister about. I want to talk to her best friend about. I want to talk to her mom about that is an interesting like her mom and her will talk about what
Starting point is 00:18:17 they eat every day and what they're making for food and all the rest of it. And that's awesome. But I'm not the person to have that conversation. Similarly, I may want to have a certain conversation about a topic, which is about how we present, how we feel and what we think about. And that may not be the conversation that I'm having with her. I'm having it with one of my friends. So make a list of everything you want to do
Starting point is 00:18:38 and everything you want to feel and find people. It may be your friend who loves adventure vacations, your friend who loves music concerts, right? Like expanding that social network to feel that social strength. Point number four is something I repeat in my book, but I still feel it needs to be reset because it needs to be refined.
Starting point is 00:18:57 In order to have a healthy relationship, in order to save a relationship, in order to know whether a relationship is going to last, you have to ask yourself three questions. Do I like their personality? What I mean by that is if you ask someone what they like to do, they may say they like traveling. Now you may like traveling too, but the question is, do you like their personality
Starting point is 00:19:15 and how they talk about traveling? So if they were like, well, wherever you've been and you were like, oh, well, last year, I just went to one place and they're like, only one place. I went to like seven last year. Like, come on. Their personality is ego and arrogance in that moment. Of course, I'm using a very simple example. Their personality isn't that they like to travel.
Starting point is 00:19:31 You may think, oh, they like to travel. We're the same. No, they just demonstrated to you that they have a pride and ego around how they travel. Do you like that? That's what you're thinking about when you're thinking about personality. The second question is, do you respect their values?
Starting point is 00:19:46 This is a really critical one because when I say, do you respect someone's values, that means you don't want to change them. If you respect someone's values, it means you don't have to value what they value and you're not expecting your partner to value what you value, you want them to respect what you value. I love that one of my wife's
Starting point is 00:20:06 values is she loves healthy eating. I respect that. I value it for myself too, but I respect it first in her. I respect that to her, her workout is a non-negotiable. For me, even though I respect that, sometimes my workout is negotiable because of how much I have going on and some other priorities that I have. So I can't expect her to devalue it because I may devalue it sometimes, and she can't expect me to value it to the same level as hers.
Starting point is 00:20:36 We have to respect each other's values. And what I find so often is, we actually want our partners to value what we value. We want them to like what we like, which isn't really the case for a good relationship. And finally, do we want to help people towards their goals, or do we want to change their goals? You will ruin a relationship if you want to change someone's values, or if you want them to value what you value, they should respect what you value,
Starting point is 00:20:59 but you can't force them to value it. And you can't force them to change their goals. If you think your partner is an ambitious enough, if you think your partner is in something else enough, whatever it is that you're not enough of, it's going to be very unlikely that they make a drastic, drastic change. Yes, yes, the street stoic part of the past is back. One of the quotes that came to mind here is from Great, the lyrics that came up for me was from Beyoncé. I pulled a quote from just one of my favorite artists in general, Kid Cudi. We are combining hip hop lyrics and quotes from some of the greatest,
Starting point is 00:21:31 to ever grace a microphone in it. He says, because it's just waves. Gotta just float, float, and have faith. It's just waves. It's the line that we've all heard before for Lauren Hill. And she says, don't be a hard rock when you really are a gem. Along with ancient wisdom from some of the greatest philosophers of all time.
Starting point is 00:21:54 Xenica, right? And he says, your mind will take shape of what you frequently hold in thought. For the human spirit is colored by such him, precious. A stone quote from Epic Edus where he says, don't seek for everything to happen as you wish it would. But rather, wish that everything happens as it actually will. Then your life will flow well.
Starting point is 00:22:16 And let's say I know we all could use a daily shot of inspiration. So this is the podcast for you. Listen to season two of the Street stoke podcast as part of the my book Buddha podcast network on the I heart radio app Apple podcast or the ever you get your podcasts. So point number five. This is probably my number one thing and it's what I experienced with my wife Rady that transformed how I felt about this. Remember this, criticism doesn't help change. Coaching does.
Starting point is 00:22:52 I found when I was in relationships that a lot of people were very critical, they'd be critical of how I spent my time, they'd be critical of what I like doing, they'd be critical of what I was wearing, whatever, maybe. Not Rady may sometimes do that. But Rady was one of the first people that I ever met that didn't criticize me about my habits, about my way of living, about my approach. There was coaching, there was opportunities, there was questions, there was curiosity, but there wasn't criticism. I find a lot of us who ruin relationships and if you want to save a relationship
Starting point is 00:23:26 Remove criticism so many of us will go up top on us and go, why do you always do this? Why do you never do this right? The words always are never are not factual. They're subjective We always say things like oh you need to stop doing this. Can you just stop like why do you do this right? It's criticism. Oh, I really don't like it when you do that. Oh, I really don't appreciate that. Right? There's so much criticism. And criticism puts someone on the defensive.
Starting point is 00:23:53 It makes someone feel less than. It makes someone feel inadequate. It completely makes someone feel like you don't believe they can change. Now, you may say, oh no, no, my partner's tough. They know they can change. No, I promise you, I promise you you can discourage, disheartening and put someone in a disconnect
Starting point is 00:24:16 from change just through criticism. Think about children. All of us have a little child in us that was criticized too much, that heard too much, negativity growing up, that was told there wouldn't be anything. And when we hear that from our partner, gosh does that trigger, right? That's what triggers is that little self inside of you.
Starting point is 00:24:35 So you may say, no, my partner's grown, they can handle it. I promise you, no matter how emotionally intelligent or how emotionally aware someone is, if they are criticized about something, it takes them right back there. And what does criticism do? It makes someone act out like a child. It makes them go right back to that and now they're going to behave in a childlike way or actually, rather a childish way. And now it's harder for them to change.
Starting point is 00:24:59 Rather than in an adult way, if you said to them, hey, what's blocking you? What are you struggling with right now? I've noticed that there's something on your mind. What's going on? Talk to me. I'm up for it. Let's discuss it. That kind of approach is more of a coach approach
Starting point is 00:25:14 than a criticism approach. Saying, hey, look, I've noticed that it's been hard for you to get around to this or get around to that. Like, what's going on? Talk to me. And often you'll find that that person, and this is 0.6, they don't know how to open up because they see opening up as a weakness.
Starting point is 00:25:31 And then we see that it's like, oh, my partner doesn't want to open up. My partner doesn't want to talk about their feelings. Well, guess what? Chances are because they're scared that if they share how they feel, it makes them appear weak. There's something known as the John Wayne syndrome or the hero complex
Starting point is 00:25:47 and it's something that stops people from responding effectively and their ability to engage in challenging conversations or even challenging tasks. And it comes from the idea that people believe they need to be bulletproof or they need to be perfect or they need to be fully stoic or strong There's a line that was said by John Wayne that kind of coined this Never apologize, mister. It's a sign of weakness John Wayne under direction John Ford said this phrase as
Starting point is 00:26:22 Captain Nathan Brittle's in the 1949 Western, she wore a yellow ribbon. I'll say it again, never apologize, Mr. it's a sign of weakness. Notice how that sets in itself an idea that, oh, if I apologize, it makes me look weak and I know my partner doesn't like weakness because they expect me to be perfect and strong
Starting point is 00:26:41 and so I won't go there. This has kind of penetrated itself through society where we find that men are often given this, again, they're also given the criticism, they're not only do they not open up, the men don't like to open up. This rhetoric, this narrative creates a reality where men then struggle to open up.
Starting point is 00:27:01 And people will say things like, I don't know what he's thinking because he never tells me what's going on. And I village did a study where they found 42% of women have a hard time getting their partner to share their feelings. And when that happens, they often feel shut out and misunderstood. What I've really found is that people are scared
Starting point is 00:27:22 of rejection or not being received. They don't want to be seen as weak. They're scared that they may be criticized in the future. So here's how it's going down in someone's mind. They say sorry, or they express that, hey, I'm really struggling with this. And now they feel that you're gonna use it in another argument where it's like, look,
Starting point is 00:27:40 you can't even deal with that. Now you can't deal with this. They're scared of that weakness being exposed and re-exposed again and again and again. Our partners want to know that we're happy with them. Our partners want to know that we're pleased with them. Our partners want to know what they get right. You may say we're adults, they should know it.
Starting point is 00:27:57 Come on, they don't need to hear it. I promise you we're all children inside. We all have a little child inside of still wanting us to know that, hey, I'm really proud of you. Hey, I really appreciate you. And you may think that sounds patronizing, but I promise you, you need it as well. I'm proud of you. I see you. I really appreciate you. I really know it's in love when you do that. Thank you for doing that. And I know you struggle with this. And I'm happy to figure out with you and understand why. That's how you talk to someone you love. Not criticism. And point number seven, criticism often
Starting point is 00:28:32 is linked with comparison. Sometimes we don't criticize directly, we criticize indirectly, which comes in the form of comparison. Oh, did you see what they did? Oh my gosh, their vacation looked amazing. Oh my god, did you see the ring that he got? Oh wow, that's incredible. Oh my God, did you see what she did for them on Valentine's Day? Oh, that was beautiful. Oh my God, did you see what they did for his birthday?
Starting point is 00:28:54 Oh my gosh, right? We've all said things like that. There's a passive aggression of comparison. We are trying to make our partner get the message. And then a partner goes, oh, is that what you want? And we're like? No, no, nothing like that, right? Comparison pushes people away. It pushes people away. Because again, you've made your partner for more and more inadequate. And number eight, this is a definite no, no, if you want to save your
Starting point is 00:29:18 relationship, stop doing this, don't put them down in public. I've heard people say things as a joke. Oh, he, he doesn't know what he's doing in his life right now. You know, everyone struggles in that area. You say these statements that you think people can handle. Again, we keep saying, oh, you're there in a doubt. They can deal with it with our little child inside. They're remembers when we were ridiculed in public. It's gonna make that person quieter.
Starting point is 00:29:40 It's going to make them open up less. Oh, he never opens up. He doesn't, he's not in touch with his feelings. Those statements push someone away. I'm sending you a lot to love. I hope that this helps you save your relationship. I hope it stops you from ruining a good one. And I hope it helps you build conscious communication. Thank you so much for listening. Please do leave a review. It means the world. It makes a huge difference. I know so many of you have been talking about so many of the episodes recently there's been amazing bars around the conversations the solos
Starting point is 00:30:10 share this with a friend share this with a friend who you know maybe struggling sending you lots of love thank you so much The street stoic podcast is back. We are combining hip-hop lyrics and quotes from some of the greatest to ever grace a microphone. It's a line from Lauren Hill and she says, don't be a hard rock when you really are again. Along with ancient wisdom from some of the greatest philosophers of all time. Seneca, right? And he says, your mind will take shape of what you frequently hold in thought.
Starting point is 00:30:52 For the human spirit is colored by such impression. Listen to season two of the Street Stowe podcast. I'm the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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