So glad you are here. Friday Five is all about being intentional about our mental health. 5 ideas, questions, tools, and resources to encourage you to lean in, care for yourself and reset.
In our last Friday Five, Melissa introduced the 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. These languages include Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Quality Time, Acts of Service and Receiving Gifts (if you missed last week’s installation, check out the blog version on our website here). Today, Mel’s taking a deeper dive into one of the languages: Words of Affirmation. The following are 5 ways that words affect our relationships.
- Words Support Understanding. Words are one way to communicate our thoughts and feelings with people around us. When we can articulate these thoughts and feelings to our partners, kids, parents and friends, we can help them understand us better. Likewise, when we encourage those around us to use their words, we can understand and support them better too.
- Words can demonstrate trust, appreciation and respect. Our words have incredible power to build up or break down relationships. Honest, respectful words foster trust within our relationships – even when it comes to topics that are difficult to discuss. Conversely, deceitful or hurtful words can break down relationships quickly and tarnish trust and respect that have been built between partners, family members or friends. We like to ask ourselves these questions when sharing, in order to help encourage respectful communication: Do my words convey what I am trying to communicate? How would I feel if someone said this to me? Is there a kinder way I can put this?
- Words support conflict resolution. When we’re in the midst of conflict, disagreement or argument, our words and our tone of voice play a crucial role in resolution. Avoid raising your voice or using blaming and accusatory language (e.g., you always…). Instead, try to use neutral language which expresses how you feel without blaming your partner. If you are interested in acquiring support with conflict resolution, please consider speaking with a trained therapist!
- Words demonstrate creativity. Words have the power to demonstrate our creativity in communicating with partners, children and friends. Consider writing a letter, song or poem for a loved one who values words of affirmation. Alternatively, consider picking out a thoughtful card in the store, leaving them a post-it note with a word of encouragement, or making a playlist with songs which convey the message you want to send.
- Words support emotional connection. Words have the power to create emotional connection within our relationships. When we take time to encourage, appreciate or offer support to our partner, children or friends, we are in turn letting them know that we notice them, value them and care for them. Encouragement is foundational and crucial to successful relationships, and words are a key way to include encouragement in our relationships.
We hope these ideas help you feel empowered in the way you use words within your relationships. As always, if you believe that speaking with a therapist could help you to feel more confident in the way you use words within your relationships, please reach out.
Melissa Mote, RP(Q)
Social Media & Administration Coordinator
