Part II: How to Have a Difficult Talk

May 27, 2019

Introduction by Deborah Meyrowitz-Weiss, M.Ed., LMFT

Deborah is member of the Collaborative Law Professionals of Southeastern PA, often provides mental health services, divorce coaching, and family counseling to our clients in Bucks County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, Chester County, and Philadelphia. She helps her clients learn effective communications skills so they are better prepared to handle difficult conversations.

Read Part II of ” How to Have a Difficult Talk,” originally posted on Hey Sigmund, and discover more tips and skills that will help you navigate emotional discussions with loved ones.

Learn more about Deborah Meyrowitz-Weiss, M.Ed., LMFT

How to Have a Difficult Talk

‘You always’ and ‘You never’ – just don’t.
The problem with speaking in absolutes, as in ‘you always’ or ‘you never’, is that the person you are speaking with will immediately set to the task of proving you wrong. They only need one time they didn’t or one time they did as ‘proof’ that you don’t know what you’re talking about. Make the mistake of saying, ‘you’re always late’, and you’ll find yourself having to respond to the one time they were on time, and you were late. It won’t matter that the reason you were late – that one time – was because your often tardy (though hopefully loveable) friend gave you the wrong address.
Listen – with an open heart and an open mind
When you hear enough of anyone’s story, their behavior will often make sense. That doesn’t make the behavior okay, but it might make it easier to understand and respond to. Try to learn as much as you can about the other person and how they see the situation. What do they see that you don’t? What do you need to know to make what they are doing make sense? Being heard is a beautiful thing to feel, for everyone. When people feel heard, defensiveness, anger, fear and disconnection will often soften, opening greater potential for you to be heard and to get what you need.
Validate them
However crazy things feel or sound from the other person, their story obviously isn’t crazy to them. Validate it. ‘I understand that it’s important for you to leave at five o’clock and I’m happy to cover for you when I’m able. I’m wondering if we can talk about a way that I’m also able to leave at five sometimes.
’Use ‘I’
You don’t need to change anyone’s opinion, you just need to be understood. Using ‘I’ (as in, I am/I think/I feel), instead of ‘you’ (you are/you think you can …/you make me … ), lessens the need for a defensive response. ‘I don’t understand what you are saying’ is very different to, ‘you’re not making any sense.’
Watch your unspoken energy
We all come into interactions with energy. You’ll feel it from other people too. When it’s someone you care about and know fairly well, it’s likely that you’ll often pick up on how they’re feeling before they’ve uttered a word. They will do the same with you. That’s because words are only one part of the message that we communicate, and often a very small part.Be careful not to close yourself off – it can easily be felt as resistance or hostility – even if your words say otherwise. Aim for synchronicity and let your body, your voice, your tone all match your words. ‘I want to understand’ will feel different depending on whether it’s supported with a presence that is open or closed (e.g. arms crossed, slightly turned away).
Don’t assume the other person knows what you need
One of the biggest mistakes we make in any sort of relationships is assuming that the other person knows more than they do. It might be obvious to us that someone who always cancels plans at the last minute will stretch patience, but the other person might not see their on-time presence as that important to you. Gently open up their knowledge about what matters to you, and let them do the same for you in relation to them.
Make a commitment
What happens next? Be clear about where things are going to go from here, otherwise there will be the potential for things to explode again.Part of being human means that we all have it in us to hurt the ones we love. We also have it in us to be hurt by them. Relationships aren’t about perfection – they are about realness and feelings and messiness. Issues in a relationship aren’t necessarily a sign of the fragility of the relationship. They are a sign of the human-ness of the people in it. The more we can own that human-ness and the potential for messiness, misunderstandings, and disappointments that is in all of us, the more we can flourish, independently of others and together with them
Young, Karen. (2016, June 8). How to have a Difficult Talk. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.heysigmund.com/how-to-have-a-difficult-talk/

Looking for more information about effective communication? Read How to Have a Difficult Talk: Part I.