Communication 101

Improve your communication

and conflict resolving abilities

First of all, let's look at what communication is exactly. The most basic way to describe communication is the conveyance of a message from a sender to a receiver.
Staticly it looks like this:

As communication is a very complicated process, there are many other factors that influence how and if a message is received and also if it's received correctly.

Austrian Kaiserschmarrn

Every winter growing up, my parents and I would make the 9hr drive from our home town in Holland to our second home town in Austria; Hopfgarten. That sounds like a long drive, but to us it was so worth it. Nine hours in the car for ten straight days in the snow. 

These weeks were by far my favorite time of the year. No school, no work, just me and my parents in the snow. Skiing to our hearts content. And eating to our hearts content, because man was the food amazing. Wiener schnitzels, germ knödel, pom frites, Tiroler Gröstl, Brixentaler knoblauch suppe. And my all time favorite Austrian dish, Kaiserschmarrn. I would eat this every single day. Although technically a sweet dessert, I would have this for lunch, breakfast, dinner or desert. It didn't matter as long as I had it at least once a day. 

Maria Susanna de Bruijn - Kamperman

Maria Susanna de Bruijn - Kamperman 

The remarkable woman I was named after. (Marjolein Susanna Alida van Leeuwen was the name my parents gave me at birth). 

I couldn't be more proud to carry my grandmothers name. 

Slow cooked BBQ pulled pork sliders

 

Slow cooked BBQ pulled pork

This is a favorite recipe of mine for any potluck, BBQ or game time party. It's very easy to make (hurray for crockpots!) and if you serve it with sliders also looks super festive.

What is your love language?

Is there a more appropriate time of year to talk about the way we prefer to express, experience and receive love? On a day where in general everything revolves around love, giving as well as receiving, it can be helpful to look at the best way to convey love.

About a year ago, freshly into my marriage, an acquaintance suggested we read "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman to use as a guide to start our marriage off with a solid base. It was proposed as a helping hand to getting to know ourselves and each other as partners better.
After my husband and I had both read the book we discussed it at length. As it turns out, for both of us it clarified a lot of behavioral pattern. Not only in the dynamics between the two of us but also the patterns with some of our closest friends and families were cast in a new light.