Effective communication requires healthy boundaries, compassion for oneself, a sense of self-worth, and the courage required to articulate one's needs in a manner that others can hear and respond to. An orientation of confiding with the people in your life rather than: attacking them, demonstrating defensiveness, or being passive-aggressive, is crucial for communicating healthily.
Ultimately, we can think of it in terms of self-respect: How would I like to feel about myself following this interaction? How do I want the other person to feel—about me and themselves? What parameters can I put in place in order to ensure that my sense of integrity stays intact while also ensuring my needs are met?
All of this requires a solid foundation of self-worth as a starting point.
With Self-Love,
Dr. C
