Helping Your Spouse Feel Safe

Do you know if your spouse feels emotionally safe in your relationship?

One of the most important things in keeping communication open is that both partners feel safe.  There are a number of ways that over time your spouse want to stop talking, clam up, or just generally pull away.

Perceived or anticipated rejection is probably the top reason.  Whether you think you have rejected your mate or not is not going to be the issue.  It is what they think.  Communication is not just words but:

• Body language
• Tone
• Facial expression
• Look in the eyes
• Words
• Vocabulary

I can say to Marc “You do the SO well” and depending on all of the above it can be encouragement to build him up or sarcasm that tears him down.

The Growth-trac Marriage site has many ideas on how to strengthen your marriage and help your spouse feel safe.

So, are there things that your mate is doing that keep you from feeling safe? Is there a way to resolve them?

Image: morguefile