The one thing sabotaging your relationships!

Do you know what we all need to collectively get better at using in our lives? It’s our voices. It has so much power to unite but even more power to ruin relationships and stunt our growth.

In my work, I have the pleasure of working with so many types of teams - coworkers, partners, husbands and wives, siblings and friends. When these teams are not working in harmony, they express feelings of being:

• misunderstood

• misheard

• criticised; and

• disconnected from the other.

The common thread to this disharmony is most often due to the misuse of ones’ voice. Our voices are powerful instruments. We can use to communicate authentically. We use it to support and nurture our loved ones. Conversely, when used incorrectly, we can alienate ourselves from our basic goodness. Through it’s misuse, it can dismantle and sabotage every level of relationship we have in our lives.

We are not born with an instruction manual on how to use our voices. But that doesn’t mean we get to disregard our responsible use of it. We learn through our parents, our teachers, our experiences, and observing others. We can refine this skill through reflection.

Listed below is a simple process for checking your voice, passed on through the wisdom of Buddhist teachings.