differences Archives ⋆ Mike and Susan Dawson

Do Differences Divide Your Relationship or Can You Accept Them as Normal?

michaeldawsonlpc@gmail.com2024-01-08T01:12:53+00:00Difference|

Raise your hand if you’ve said or thought this before: “If everyone were more like me, this world would be a much better place.” Wow! Everyone’s hand is up — not really surprising. After all, there wouldn’t be any more differences if everyone was like you. We’d think the same, react the same, make the same decisions, share the same values and beliefs. We’d all be right. There wouldn’t be any more conflict or division. Wow. What a time to be alive! Sign me up! As great as that sounds, we have to face reality and realize that our differences aren’t the problem. We are created differently for a reason. [...]

Communication Transformation

michaeldawsonlpc@gmail.com2024-01-08T01:17:46+00:00Communication, Emotion|

Frustrated by not being able to talk? Tired of finding that your attempts at problem solving just lead to negativity and high drama? Overwhelmed by conversations that always go south? We see this problem in both counseling sessions and in marriage groups. We hear all too often, “we just can’t talk without it becoming an argument or a fight.” Why do so many couples go down this road? Gary Smalley in The DNA of Relationships understands it exactly; and it’s exactly what we see with couples time and time again. He says there are four ways couples waste time and frustrate the process when it comes to having a conversation [...]

The “Movie Theater” Attitude for Couples

michaeldawsonlpc@gmail.com2024-01-08T01:17:50+00:00Relationships|

We recently went to the movies, and when we came out, Susan said, “That was a good movie, I enjoyed it. It was romantic, but at times also sad.” I thought to myself, “Really? What movie did she see?” It was a great movie! On that, we agreed. But my first thoughts about it were that it was full of action and suspense. What just happened? Now, we both went to the same movie. We heard the same words and saw the same images. We listened to the same soundtrack, accompanying the same actors saying the same words. But we had two completely different interpretations. In life and apparently in [...]