Tag Archives: improving relationships

Reality Check: Ratios and Relationships

I’ll bet you were hoping for a math lesson today, so here you go: A ratio is essentially a pair of numbers that defines a relationship. And we all know that the value and quality of our relationships plays a … Continue reading

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Reality Check: Essential Connections

When things are going well, some of us don’t feel a great need to seek out connections with others. We’re content to forge along and make our progress without a great deal of interaction. When things are going badly however, … Continue reading

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Reality Check: The Compassion of Listening

If you have an active imagination, you may have a conversation going on in your head right now while you’re reading this. Perhaps you are arguing with yourself over whether you should have said that thing you said to your … Continue reading

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Reality Check: Reassessing Wants

Dr. Robert Wubbolding suggests a deceptively simple four-part structure derived from the practice of Reality Therapy. He calls it WDEP: Want, Do, (self)Evaluate, and Plan. The practice starts with, “What do you want?” Wants can be surprisingly confusing and the … Continue reading

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Reality Check: What we say; What they hear

Have you ever walked away from a conversation shaking your head and wondering, “What was that all about?” Do you ever perceive that people you talk to are overly sensitive, resentful, or easily offended? Having a conversation that’s a true … Continue reading

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Reality Check: The Urge to Justify

Most of us have been on the receiving end of criticism at some point. If that’s you, then you may also be familiar with the urge to respond by justifying your actions. Criticism sometimes comes from the people closest to … Continue reading

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Reality Check: How Can You Tell Whether It’s A Good Relationship?

Choice theory emphasizes self-evaluation. As the word implies, to self-evaluate is to evaluate, for yourself, how well something is working. To self-evaluate, you consider what you want, compare it to the reality, and then determine how well they match. It’s … Continue reading

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Reality Check: Our “What We Want” World

Dr. Wm. Glasser’s book, “Take Charge of Your Life” includes a chapter entitled “The Pictures in our Heads.” Does the concept of pictures in your head make sense to you? Do you have pictures in your head? Are they vivid … Continue reading

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Reality Check: The Face of Kindness

A common bit of advice for living a good life is, “Be kind.” I certainly agree. Kindness will likely result in better relationships, quality of life, and more happiness than being nasty. It’s obvious what it means to “be kind.” … Continue reading

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Reality Check: What you see is what you get

WYSIWYG, pronounced “whizzywig,” means, “What you see is what you get.” I know the phrase from the olden days of computers—back when it was a big deal to have the display on the screen actually reflect what was printed. Computer … Continue reading

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