As part of the Embrace online mindfulness/CBT/EFT course we discuss relationships, with our partners, families, friends, colleagues and even strangers. While experiencing infertility it is so easy to feel isolated and to distance yourself from people when actually the opposite would be more beneficial. I thought I would to share with you one of the most valuable things I’ve learnt in my adult life that has allowed me to be happier and more fulfilled in my relationships:
We mistakenly assume that if our partners love us they will react and behave in certain ways – the ways we react and behave when we love someone.
- John Grey: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
Just pause for a moment and really let that sink in. In short if your partner does not show you that they love you in the way that you need to be shown then you may believe they do not love you. The above statement completely changed the way I viewed my relationship with my partner.
Any statement beginning with “If you love me then you would……….” is assuming that they show love in the same way that you do. So you might feel that somebody loves you when they tell you that they love you, they hug you at least once a day or they do little things to show that they care like make you a cup of tea. This would work perfectly if your partner has the same values as you but if they feel that somebody loves them by big gestures such as expensive gifts, taking care of the big things in life and generally just being there with someone without needing to tell them all the time you might come up against problems.
The most common complaint we hear about relationships is “He/she just doesn’t understand me.” If we knew how our partner shows love and how they like to be shown that they are loved our relationships would be a lot smoother. So to achieve this very thing I have created a relationship questionnaire.
To help open up communication between you and your partner each complete the following questions/statements, without asking the other for their answers. When you are done swap and talk through your answers. (I suggest handing your partner your sheet first and discussing before looking at his/hers.)
I’ve included the below as a PDF in the files section of the Embrace Fertility online support group for easy printing. (To read more about our free online support group click here or sign up here.)
I tested this out with my husband and it was a really enlightening exercise to do as a couple, the Embrace ladies know the relevance of the photograph that accompanies this blog! I hope you gain something from doing it and would love to hear back from you. It also opens up communication to discuss what you are unhappy about in your relationship and what you could do to change that. You might hear yourself saying: “But he/she should just know how to make me happy.”
I suggest removing the word should from your vocabulary, if you have never told your partner what you need how are they going to know? They are not a mind reader! Also wouldn’t it be better to have one conversation which changed your relationship for the better than spend a lifetime thinking “He should do this!” “She should do that!”
The Embrace course runs continuously. Visit the Embrace page for full details, course content and more testimonials:
I’m really happy with the course so far – early each week I watch Naomi’s excellent videos, then the EFT video the next day or nearby and 2-4 meditations a week. With some other bits thrown in from the suggestions. I’ve had a shocking few weeks of bad news and lowered resilience and the course has gotten me thinking quite a bit about which ‘solutions’ (for want of a better word) work best for me at different times. But I can see such a huge difference from now, since I’ve been consciously practising mindfulness, EFT, yoga and other nourishing activities to, say, last year, when I was in a whirlwind of very severe ups and downs which I wasn’t easily able to support myself with. I’m also loving the fact that the course is relevant to life and not just fertility as I know I can come back to any of the week’s practices and see them as relevant at any point.
- Emily Embrace Fertility member
An hours worth of content with video, MP3 and ebook on the subject of how our thinking affects every area of our lives. In your FREE fertility support pack (sign-up to receive) I discussed how with mindfulness and CBT we can step back from our thoughts and observe them. In this session I expand on this and explain how we can change our thinking and therefore our lives.
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What do you really want on top of a baby? What intentions are you going to set for yourself? Leave a comment below or come and join the conversation within our fertility support community.
I have created a FREE Fertility Support Pack to get you started with the mindbody techniques I share. It includes an hour-long introduction to mindfulness, a 20 minute emotional freedom technique video tutorial, a 5 minute meditation and an e-book that includes 10 easy ways to bring mindfulness into your day. For your free pack sign-up.
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