Skip to main content

what marriage counseling taught me...lesson #4





As I was reading Brene Brown's latest book, Braving The Wilderness, this literally jumped off the page and into my heart. This explained my latest lesson perfectly. Let me rephrase it the way that my brain saw it :

If spouses really want their loved one to show up, speak out, take chances, and innovate, we each have to create cultures where the other feels safe - where their belonging is not threatened by speaking out and they are supported when they make the decision to brave the wilderness, stand alone, and speak truth to bullshit.
 
I want to show up and speak out, with a transparency that begs for a deeper intimacy. I want to take chances and bring new ideas to our relationship that catapults us even higher. I want to be vulnerable and open and speak honestly. And I want all of those things for him as well.

When I first met my hubby, I was fresh out of an abusive relationship. Like 3 weeks fresh. I was a walking mess of fear and insecurity. I didn't feel safe, ever. I didn't know how to trust, ever. It wasn't until recently that I realized how much that toxic time was affecting me now - how I viewed myself, my relationship, my man. It's like I've been desperately trying to swim against the current, against the very goodness of my husband, all of this time.

So, I stopped. I stopped fighting against and started flowing with instead. I allowed the natural current of him to meet the natural current of me and together we are creating this organic ebb and flow, untamed tides of freedom and realness and unshakable certainty that has us more in unison than ever before.

And in that culture of freedom and safety to just be him, he has created this space for me that I have always been seeking - a safe haven of hope and truth and love and security. He has become a home of shelter where I can rest and grow and become. I can lean all of me into all of him, knowing that I can trust him to catch me if I fall, to walk with me through anything, and, most importantly for me in this time of my life, to speak truth to my occasional bullshit. I know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that he has my heart and that I can trust him with it. That statement alone is a testament to the healing power of creating safety within any relationship.


Good. Better. Best
The healing culture of safety ~lesson #4

You can read our marriage counseling journey here:
lesson 1
lesson 2
lesson 3


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

and the honor goes to...part 1

This will be a series of posts in which I honor people who have made an impact in my life, both in my past and in my present. I am blessed to still have some of these people in my life; others have left this life for their next one; others are no longer a part of my close circle, yet still made a difference to me. I want to share them with you. I want to honor them. I want them to know how much I love and respect them. The first one is dedicated to my childhood babysitter, Pat B. Growing up, both of my parents worked. This meant that my sister and I went to a babysitter when we were younger. We had a few, but the one that we spent the most time with, and that I remember the most, lived right up the road from us. We were actually neighbors, but being in the country, that meant a cornfield separated us. I recall being there when I was in kindergarten until I was old enough to stay by myself, probably around 12 or 13. I love to reminisce about my time there. It was my home away from ...

no more hiding

I first published this in May of 2013. A lot has changed in that time. A lot has stayed the same. There are updates at the end of this post. One of my daughters is on a daily SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) or, in layman's terms, an antidepressant. She was diagnosed with the main dish of Anxiety Disorder, with a side of depression. I can joke about it now - and she can too - but it hasn't always been that way. . We first encountered it years ago. At the time we sought church-based counseling but nothing else in the way of help for her. She was so young that I just couldn't imagine putting her on a medication. I had a hard time even accepting that she might have a mental disorder. We got through that time - barely - and went on without it rearing its head again. But when it resurfaced three years ago, it did so with a vengeance. This time, I was better equipped myself to deal with it. There was no hesitation. We immediately saw a doctor, got a prescrip...

the deconstruction of my life and other not-so-fun moments : patriachy, britney, and finding my voice

    **I don't know Britney Spears, why she did the things she did, or what her life was like growing up. These are just thoughts about my life, my assumptions of hers, and how the church is the one thread that weaves its way through both our lives.      Britney and I were both raised in church. Certain beliefs were instilled in us, even if only in subliminal ways (again, I don't actually know her life). Be a good girl, good daughter, good christian, good wife. The man/husband/father is the head of the home. What he says goes. What we want or have to say isn't important, our voice isn't important. Women, like children, are to be seen, not heard. Even while rising to her stardom, I'm sure these thoughts were always a part of her. The world may have been watching her, judging her, but more importantly, god (man) was watching and isn't he the ultimate judge?  be a good girl For years, Britney has used her voice in ways that entertained the masses. She used her ...