he same couch as each other, and c) standing face-to-face.
3) Practice touch by giving each other one compliment at dinner time every day, a compliment that is preceded by or accompanies some form of touch (hand holding, touching the face, a kiss, etc.). This will also increase the amount of mutual liking.
4) Plan to spend a specific amount of time once per week discussing personal topics and expressing feelings in a positive manner, topics and feelings that also help to balance individual disclosure.
5) Engage in one trust-building exercise per week. Such activities might involve one person standing behind the other person and then asking the front person to close their eyes and fall backward.
6) Use a diary to record any individual use of miscommunication (placating, blaming, computing, distracting), and what situation prompted this use of miscommunication from you.
7) Role-play as the opposite gender. As the play-female, tell the play-male partner what you expect of their ôroleö with respect to household duties, child care, and economics. As the play-male partner, tell the play-female your expectations of their ôroleö with respect to the same issues and aspects of marriage.
8) Practicing building and sharing humor by reading the comics together each evening and by viewing one comedy movie or play together each week.
9) Build dialogue and feedback by practicing making ôIö statements to each other about feelings, by practicing using measured statements instead of absolute statements, and by keeping a diary of the time and place when feedback is offered to your partner.
10) Build conflict resolution skills by practicing summarizing, paraphrasing, validation and clarification in order to help resolve conflicts in a positive manner that will increase each individualÆs and the overall happiness level with the marriage relationship.
All of the above steps are important for successful communication s...