If I'm Honest

Today we take a close look at the mechanics of shame and the one real remedy for its craftiness.

Today I was reminded that feeling 'unhinged' is a normal part of the Christian life, and in that, to not give up on yourself for feeling that way.

I'm sorry.

Why do we find these two, simple words so difficult to say?

I think it's all about emotions. Humility is required to offer an apology, and we're not always so great with humility, are we? Especially if we think we're right. Or we KNOW we're right.

But being right doesn't make for great relationship dynamics.

I believe that our willingness to apologize for the hurt we've caused is equal to the degree of closeness or relational intimacy we will experience with those we love.

For the codependent, relationships and communication about them become a swinging pendulum. On one side, we're often silent in the face of things we shouldn't be silent about because we learned somewhere in our past that speaking up brought up pain, rejection or simply nothing. On the flip side, too much silence eventually eats us alive and the anger we can no longer contain boils over onto whomever happens to be in our path.

How do we connect with our spouses when we're emotionally exhausted? Asking for our needs to be met is hard for most of us anyway, but in the middle of a seemingly never-ending crisis where our energy is scattered and tapped, it's easy to put our relationships on the back burner. I've got 4 tips for simple communication that can help you move towards open communication.