The Secret To A Fulfilling Relationship: Prioritize Communication

After many years of speaking to couples and many years of a happy marriage, my wife and I have come to believe that perhaps the most important aspect of a successful relationship is communication. It's one of the important pillars of relationships. All interactions, whether with employer-employee, salesperson-customer, or children with their parents, determine the success or failure of a relationship based on how people communicate.

All living beings, from a single cell to complex humans, have some form of communication with their environment and others of their species. Communication is an essential part of life. Without being able to send out signals and get some sort of response, living things would have no way of sensing where there is food, danger, or the potential for reproduction. Communication is essential to find a partner, procreate, and continue the species. It is also essential to maintaining a successful relationship.

Communication is a multifaceted subject, and many books have been written on the topic. Complex theories of communication have been discussed, but some simple principles describe what happens in successful versus unsuccessful relationships. It's important to understand that communication can change as we age.

Communication is achieved through several modalities. Let's look at each one and see what happens when we communicate through each medium.