Communication is one of the fundamental aspects of marriage, but what does it mean to communicate?
During counseling, many couples would say they communicate with their partner whereas they perform the perfunctory routine of hellos and how are you? However, communication goes beyond that, communication involves talking about your feelings, str#pping yourself naked emotionally, and sharing certain ideologies and emotions that you would never express on a normal day.
If you’re looking for how to communicate with your partner, these powerful communication exercises for couples would help you get closer to your partner, understand their thoughts, and know what they are thinking.
How Can Couples Build On Their Communication?
Couples can build their communication by ensuring that they are intentional about communicating, paying attention when their partner is talking, and listening so they can understand and validate their partner’s feelings.
Benefits Of Communication Exercises For Couples
The difference between a good marriage and a bad marriage is the communication system. These benefits will convince you on why you should be more intentional about communication exercises for couples.
1. Communication Exercises Build Trust
One of the things that communication does is that it builds trust over time. Trust does not come immediately but with some level of communication which includes spending quality time together, trust is built and this is something that is commonly found with couples who communicate well.
2. Communication Exercises Build Conflict-Resolution Skills
Couples communication exercises helps you build conflict-resolution skills.
One of the best qualities of marriage is that marriage makes you a better person and it affects every area of your life. Marriage in a way enhances your sense of responsibility and commitment because you know you have somebody who relies on you.
When you engage in couple’s communication activities with your partner, you are improving your communication and conflict resolution skills which affect every other part of your life; career-wise and social-wise.
3. Communication Exercises Enable Emotional Support
Sometimes what your partner needs is emotional support. One of the things that communication building exercises for couples will do for you is that it will enable you to offer emotional support to your partner. Also, these exercises would make you alert to your partner’s mood without verbal exchange.
4. Communication Exercises Promote Increased Intimacy
One benefit of these communication exercises is that it promotes intimacy. In the real sense, emotional intimacy will make you and your partner see each other as a safe space and be able to tell each other anything.
14 Powerful Communication Exercises For Couples
These communication exercises for couples are what you need for that sizzling relationship with your partner.
1. Relaxing Fireside Chat
If you truly want to have a powerful communication exercise then you should consider making relaxing fireside chats. The purpose of a relaxing fireside chat connotes the idea of sitting by the fireside and talking with your loved ones. The purpose of this is that the fire signifies warmth and love, and the atmosphere relaxes you and your partner.
One important thing to note; do not start with controversial issues or issues that would easily get a rise out of both of you. Rather you should set the pace and take it slow by talking about the safe topics before going on to the more intense issues that need to be trashed out.
2. Appreciation Journal
An appreciation journal is one of the communication exercises for couples that you should use if you want to get closer to your partner. I love the idea of an appreciation journal. It’s one of the concepts that I cherish in my marriage.
An appreciation journal is an easy way for couples to focus on their partner’s strength, appreciate it and help their partners see what they can do better.
Using an appreciation journal is a great idea to improve your communication because what you both read in each other’s appreciation journal can serve as cues to ask questions and launch into deeper communication.
3. Role Reversal
Role reversal is one of the best ways to effectively understand your partner’s point of view.
Role reversal is when you get into your partner’s shoes and know how they feel and what they are going through. This will go a long way in helping you validate your partner’s feelings.
For instance, whenever I have a case of a man who complains about how his wife does not have the house clean when he returns from work. The first thing I recommend is to try a role reversal and in most instances, couples usually come back with appreciation for their significant other thus making it one of the most powerful couples communication activities.
4. Share Your Emotions
One of the things that couples should do is to share their emotions. Sharing emotions is a sweet thing to do but it’s not always easy at the start but over time, it gets easier to do so.
When you share your emotions with your partner, you make them see what you are feeling and they can see the picture you’re painting.
Sharing your emotions is one of the most effective communication exercises for couples because it simply involves talking and having your partner listen to you and validate what you are feeling.
5. Five-Minute Check-In
You know how some couples say things like “they can’t go a day without hearing their partner’s voice”? Do you know that one of the best communication exercises for couples is having a 5-minute check-in with your partner?
For example, when your partner is away at work, call your partner whenever you have the chance and just have a random conversation with them for five minutes.
This is one of the ways to enhance intimacy with your partner, so by doing it consistently, you will imprint yourself as an everyday must-do for your partner.
6. Listening Marathon
A listening marathon is listening to your partner without interrupting your partner. If you tend to interrupt people when they are talking, a listening marathon will help you be a better listener.
Allow your partner to talk for a designated period without trying to interrupt them. That way, they can say everything that comes to their mind, and unburden everything they are feeling without having you stop them or change the course of the conversation.
To practice active listening, you need to nod your head to show you are listening and maintain eye contact with your mate.
7. Timeline Of Love
One of the most important communication exercises for couples that you do not want to miss out on is creating a timeline of love with your partner.
It’s popularly known that every relationship has its stage and experiences a different kind of feeling at each different stage. Because of this, one of the ways to strengthen your bond is via this communication exercise which involves talking about the stages of your relationship that stood out for you and things your significant other did that solidified your feelings for them.
8. Positive Language Games
Positive language games involve getting across your grievances without sounding accusatory or without being negative. It’s just a way of dousing the fire even before it gets started, so this makes it one of the good communication building exercises for couples.
For instance, if your partner offends you, in the heat of anger you will likely say things that will hurt them. Playing a positive language game would help you avoid accusatory words and rather structure your statement more positively.
Positive language games will help you think before you talk, help you think about what you want to say more positively and therefore you’re able to lay your grievances without sounding accusatory or making your partner feel less of themselves.
9. Future Vision Board
It’s not every time that you would have to discuss the past and the present. You can also discuss the future, a future vision board is one of the ways to do that.
A future vision board will get you into the mind of your partner and what they are planning to achieve in the next two, five, or ten years.
Creating a future vision board is one of the most powerful communication exercises for married couples that you would ever think of because it just brings you closer together and helps you commit to the shared goals that you both have to achieve.
10. Shared Activities
There is nothing as good as taking an interest in your spouse’s hobbies. Also, remember that one of the ways to build a strong communication system is to have shared activities or at least a few common interests that you both can draw your communication from.
One of the things that shared activities do for both of you is that, firstly; you both can spend quality time together. Secondly, you get to enjoy each other’s company and thirdly, you can have more intimate conversations stemming from the activities that you both are engaged in together.
My husband and I have shared interests and I can tell you that shared activities with your partner is one of the communication activities for couples.
11. Play Question Games
I seriously recommend playing question games with your partner. There are one thousand and one questions that you can always ask your spouse. You don’t have to formulate all those questions in your mind because I have written an amazing list of questions that you can ask your partner.
Playing questions with your partner is a very fun and non-tense way of getting into your partner’s mind. Playing questions with your significant other will help both of you talk about the most mundane, flirtiest, controversial, and deep things without making it seem like you are putting in effort.
This is one of the best communication exercises for couples I always recommend to my client.
12. “I” Statements vs. “You” Statements
This type of communication exercise would help you communicate with your partner more positively and would make them want to listen to you.
The “I” versus “you” statement is one of the effective communication exercises for couples that you should practice with your significant other. So your partner said something that hurt your feelings. Rather than saying, you hurt my feelings, you can just say I feel like when you say this it hurts my feelings. This way, you avoid heaping hot coals on your partner’s head through accusatory words and neutralize the situation.
13. Mirroring
When you mirror your partner, you repeat what they have said in a manner that you understand just to ensure that you get what they are saying.
Mirroring is one of the important couple exercises for communication that you should always have with your partner. This is a great way to understand your partner without assumptions in your head and make them feel heard and understood.
This is a very important exercise because it helps you sharpen your listening and comprehension skills which is one of the pivotal attributes to your marriage.
14. Create A List Of Hurtful Words
In my years of counseling couples, I have discovered that hurtful words do nothing other than drive you both apart from each other. The best it does is to temporarily soothe your ego and make you feel good that you can reduce someone with your words.
But if you love your partner you will truly realize you are wrong and would probably apologize for saying words you should not have said. This is one of the best communication exercises for couples that you can ever think of.
Compile a list of hurtful words that you both don’t like and make it a practice to avoid them in your daily speech.
Final Notes On Communication Exercises For Couples
These communication exercises for couples are things that will never go out of fashion as long as there are people who fall in love with each other. This is something that you need to try if you desire a healthier relationship with your partner.
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