Healthy communication is key when having courageous conversations with others. It’s essential to prepare for these kinds of talks. We should strive to be kind, assertive and use positive language to create boundaries and have hard conversations! Blame is not necessary or helpful in any way. We take can heal and move forward with these actionable tools:

 

Actionable ways to do this:

-USE “I” Statements. And move towards resolution! 

I feel better when we can calmly talk things through. How does that make you feel? 

Or 

I feel hurt when we don’t talk, can we work on this? 

 

-PREPARE! Write down your thoughts and what points you would like to prepare to say. 

We can better remember our feelings and what exactly we want to express if we jot something down and are mindful of the topics. 

 

-LISTEN to what the other person says or how they respond and maybe there is room to take responsibility on your side of how you can do better or help the other person. 

 

- BE ASSERTIVE- speak your truth, how you feel, be vulnerable and let go of the things you can’t control, for instance how the other person responds. 
 

How you respond and react is your responsibility! 

 

SETTING BOUNDARIES  is helpful. You can speak a boundary like this….

When you _____

 

( guilt me, raise your voice, don’t listen, belittle me etc. ) 

 

I will ____

 

 (consequence) (walk out of the room, hang up the phone etc)