Couples urged to begin communication by expressing gratitude

Jesus Gras teaches "safe communication" techniques during a session at the Fort Worth Community Health Fair, organized by Iglesia Victoria en Cristo. (Photo / Isa Torres)

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FORT WORTH—Couples must strengthen communication to strengthen their relationship, the founders of Fully Alive Health told a session at the Fort Worth Community Health Fair, organized by Iglesia Victoria en Cristo.

Jesus Gras and Maria del Carmen Uceda, co-founders of Fully Alive Health, led a a session at the Fort Worth Community Health Fair, organized by Iglesia Victoria en Cristo. (Photo / Isa Torres)

Maria del Carmen Uceda and Jesus Gras said one way to improve communication is by practicing gratitude. It is also is important to make sure the message is properly understood, they added.

“Communication is important because not only do we know each other better, but we also get to grow together,” Gras said.

That is important because humans always are in relationships, and they need to practice how to strengthen them, Uceda said.

“We are born in relationships, grow in relationships, and we are also hurt in relationships,” Uceda explained. “In God, we can heal those relationships.”

To do that, she said, it is helpful to look at conflict with a different understanding. Instead of seeing it as an unresolved misunderstanding, conflict should be seen as an opportunity for growth.

“If conflict arises, then that means there is an need that is not being properly expressed,” Gras said. “We can provide that help to one another.”

While couples benefit from the communication when they have differences, so can families, the local church and society in general, he said.


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Negativity seems to be present everywhere, Gras noted. While negativity may seem the easiest way to respond to conflict, he said urged his audience to look for the healing God wants people to experience.

“When we feel threatened, it is natural to put barriers against one another,” Gras said. “You can be sure that if you feel tension, then the other person feels tension as well.”

As couples actively practice expressing gratitude to one another, then they will gradually begin to take the easy way less and less, and instead thrive in looking like Christ more and more, he remarked.

After gratitude is expressed, then the listener—or the receiver of the message—must repeat back that message to ensure it has been correctly understood, Uceda said.

“This is what can help create a safe space of communication, where one can share needs and feel assured those needs will be safely met,” she said.

Safe communication brings healing to others and to oneself, Gras said.

“After we practice and live in this healing, we then can also go and teach it to others,” Uceda said.

 


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