MYTH 7

We need to talk ...

‘We need to talk ...’ Ouch! If we are totally honest, who amongst us doesn’t die inside just a little when we hear our partner utter that ominous invitation, even at those times when we know full well there is an issue between us that has to be addressed? But why does the prospect of a ‘talk’ make us feel that way? Is it conceivable that the sinking feeling in the pit of our stomach is an inner voice to be heeded rather than to be brushed aside?

The novelist Rose Macaulay once complained that, ‘It is a common delusion that you make things better by talking about them.’ This seems an extreme position to me: talking things through undoubtedly helps on occasion, and people like me would be out of a job if it didn’t. ...

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