Last updated on September 21st, 2023 at 02:59 pm
How Unspoken (And Unanswered) Needs Sabotage A Relationship
Lets follow a couple’s communication. You’ll see what goes wrong, and how the couple fixes it. You’ll learn how you can improve communication for marriage and relationships.
June: “I don’t like our gardener. I don’t like how he trimmed the roses. I don’t think he did a good job on the grass. I don’t like…”
What is going on here? – Disguised and unspoken feelings. (I feel uncomfortable; I want you to hear my discomfort. I want to know that you will be on my side.)
Bob: “Oh. Well, they are all like that. I’ve worked with a lot of them.”
What is going on here? – Logical explanation. (I want you to see that it is okay. I don’t want you to be unfair to the gardener. Why aren’t you happy? Everything is okay.)
June: “You never listen to me” – storms off.
Bob: What happened? What is wrong with her?
Bob didn’t listen to his partner’s unspoken and underlying feelings and needs. He gave a logical explanation instead.
June felt unheard and reacted.
Bob felt ambushed by the emotional reaction of his partner. He hates this feeling of being powerless. He doesn’t know what to do.
How can this couple repair this recurring scenario? How can they learn to improve communication?
Move in closer to reach for underlying feelings
This allows for improved communication.
Ask yourself, what is June trying to say (but not able to say directly?) What feelings is June experiencing?
Bob’s task is to learn to listen, explore and reflect rather than explain. -” I’m sorry you don’t like the gardener. How did that make you feel when the gardener did that? What do you think we should do about it?” (Empathy and reflection of what was said, curiosity of deeper feeling, teaming up to solve problem if needed and to show that on partner’s side.)
Bob’s possible resistance – I don’t want to ‘take care’ of my partner that way. I want him/her to be able to tell me what he or she is feeling directly. I shouldn’t have to.
Answer: We all have to ‘take care’ of our partners at times. Especially while they are reaching for support and don’t know how to do it yet.
If you want THIS relationship to work, you have to learn to communicate in a way that your partner can hear you. You aren’t going to get different results from the same actions.
Pull out for birds eye view to see the cycle
June reaches for support indirectly.
Bob explains to ‘make it all okay’ and to be fair to everyone.
June feels unheard and reacts, in this case perhaps gets angry and attacks
Bob feels ambushed and confused.
June storms off very upset and feeling abandoned.
Bob apologizes but is confused and doesn’t know what to do to fix this.
June ‘beats Bob up emotionally’ because she still feels that it is Bob’s fault.
June eventually and briefly realizes that it wasn’t all Bob’s fault but isn’t able to ‘hold’ onto this awareness.
June and Bob are caught in this dynamic and need to unpack it to ‘see’ what they are caught in and step outside of it TOGETHER. (Not just feel what they are caught in)
How can they talk about the pattern they see happening?
Bob’s new conversation
Bob is about to take a stab at improving communication.
“It seems that when you reach for support and I don’t realize it, I try to make everything okay by explaining. You feel unsupported and abandoned and get angry and lash out at me. I feel punished by your anger. It hurts a lot. I will try to slow down and be more curious about your needs. I need you to try to tell me what is going on.”
Here Bob explains what he sees happening. He explains what he will do and what he needs from June.
June’s new conversation
June is going to respond in a way to improve communication with her husband.
“Yes, I guess I am reaching for support and I don’t even realize it until you talk in a way that feels so unsupportive to me. I will try to let you know that I am feeling let down and needing something from you instead of flying off the handle. I need you to try to pay attention to what I am really saying. I’m not so good at realizing what I am asking for until I am disappointed and we are in a fight.”
Jane is able to respond and acknowlege what Bob has said. She is able to own her part.
Bob and Jane are working on building an more solid place to stand, where they are there for each other emotionally and also talking about the cycle or pattern they get caught in.
Like Bob and Jane, you can learn to improve communication for marriage happiness. WeConcile can teach you how.
For some inspirational quotes, check out our instagram page.
You can find lots of helpful articles in the WeConcile Blog.
This article was originally posted https://www.jenniferlehrmft.com/how-unspoken-and-unanswered-needs-sabotage-a-relationship/
© 2013 - 2024 WeConcile
Great suggestion for a conversation to try and clarify why we have the reactions we have to our partners. An innocent exchange can turn into some very deep feelings being pushed without some help.
Thank you.
I so appreciate your work, Jennifer. This is something I have experienced in nearly all relationships. I’m realizing that I experience it even with myself. There is this mask self that feels it has to be nice and loving all the time and represses the wounded child’s expression of hurt. This of course has a way of coming out in my relationship. Becoming aware and observing this is so helpful. Thank you!
Jennifer, I like the way you tap into the unexpressed conversation that is really going on under the words that are said. It seems that if we can learn to express those uncomfortable (but real) feelings, we have a better chance of being heard. Thanks!