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Questions About Important Relationships
Kevin A. Thompson
April 01, 2024
Two things are striking to me:
Many people do not have a person or place to ask questions about their most important relationships (marriage, parenting, work, etc.)
We vastly underestimate the amount of pain in people’s lives.
One of the great perks of my job is that experts in various fields continually surround me. I have a place and a person where my questions can be answered. Most people do not have that.
Each semester, I teach a 5-7-week class on different aspects of relationships. At the end of each session, I do a 20-minute Q&A. The depth and sincerity of the questions always strike me.
So here is my question: What’s your questions?
Here is an anonymous form where you can submit a question about any meaningful relationship and I (or an expert I’m interviewing) will answer. Try it out.
On the latest episode of Change the Odds the Podcast, we took some of the questions from this form and answered them. Listen here: (or here for non-Apple users)
Reader Question: How can I learn to be vulnerable in marriage?
The simplest definition of vulnerability is choosing a path that doesn’t come naturally. We all have natural reactions to situations. Those pathways have been developed over time (often in childhood) and were reasonable responses to what we faced at the time.
However, the pathways that worked in previous relationships often won’t work in present ones. We have to choose a different way.
So to be vulnerable, we need to consider what are our natural tendencies, and brainstorm other ways to respond. For instance, if a man naturally removes himself from conversations that might be tense or difficult because he’s afraid he is going to say the wrong thing, he needs to recognize the tendency, identify the feelings that occur as it’s happening, then courageously choose to stay in the conversation rather than leaving.
Thank you for all your support with Stay In Your Lane and our broadcast with Focus on the Family. It’s been encouraging to have the book exposed to so many more people.
Don’t forget, if you have free access to the Stay In Your Lane Bible study. It’s great for groups but can also be done individually. To access it, go HERE.
