If you and your partner have difficulty communicating with each other and discussing personal obstacles, try one of the following options to encourage conversation. The methods, along with couples counseling, may help you and your loved one speak honestly without being judged.

Honesty Box

Place a small box in the corner of a room in your home. Provide a notepad and pens for you and your loved one to write on. Encourage your loved one to write about a problem that they have been facing or an emotion that they have been experiencing. Take time to write down some of your own thoughts as well. Set aside one week each night to read the slips of paper with your partner.

Make an agreement with your partner that neither of you will criticize the other one while the papers are being read. Brainstorm together as each thought is read aloud and discuss options that may help resolve the issue at hand. 

Emotional Game

Cut small squares of paper that are the same size. Write a noun or adjective on each one. Place the papers in a bag. Instruct your partner to select a paper and describe how the word makes them feel. Each word can be used to describe past or present feelings or an object that makes them feel a specific way.

Learning how your partner responds to words may help you gain better insight about their thought process. In exchange, you can discuss your feelings when you draw a word and your partner may learn new things about your personality and how you view life.

Skits About Life Experiences

List some situations that you have faced recently with your partner and give a piece of paper and pen to your loved one so that they can write down some events that they have dealt with not long ago that involved you. After the lists are complete, exchange them. Take turns acting out each situation. The person who is watching the skit can provide feedback and discuss how they felt when they were, personally, faced with the situation.

As each person sees how the other one views the activities that are being acted out, they may see that they handled the situation poorly or were not listening to what their partner said or how they were feeling when the events occurred.

Discuss the activities that you and your partner participate in them with a couples counselor like Drake Counseling Services to receive additional feedback. The counselor may provide advice that will help you and your partner strengthen the relationship and overcome obstacles that you are both faced with. As you and your partner grow more accustomed to sharing thoughts and feelings, communicating with each other may become easier.