Self Disclosure

We communicate every day to get by in life in business and in our personal lives. The one thing that we take for granted is our relationships. Couples have been together for years and assumed that they were communicating. In fact, they were just going through the motions.

Personally, I have always felt that my relationship was ok. After reading the article "Can we talk? Researcher talks about the role of communication in marriages", by Nara Schoenberg (2011), I have realized that our communication could use a lot of improvement.

My wife and I go through the motions every day. We talk about every day things. "You are picking up the kids today right?" "What do you want for dinner?" We know each other's dreams and aspirations, but, we don't communicate them every day.

In the article, Terri Orbuch did research on couples whose marriages lasted a long time. "In 1987, a review in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy found that higher rates of self-disclosure were tied with higher rates of marital satisfaction. Expression of love and support was also linked to happy marriages" (Schoenberg, 2011, line 10). She says that self disclosure is the key to a healthy, long lasting relationship.

"When you communicate across gender lines, it would be wise to keep in mind that, like culture, gender may predispose women and men to interpret messages differently" (Sole, 2011, pg. 8.3). Gender plays a big role in communication. Men have a different language than woman. Let's say that three guys are standing outside of a Hooters restaurant. One guy might say, "Let's go check out the breasts." A woman that was standing within earshot might take that statement as being offensive. In fact, the guys were referring to chicken breasts. When communicating with cross gender, you have to take in consideration the other genders understanding of your meaning.

I need to