Undaunted, the partners sign up for a marriage education class called "Mastering the Mysteries of Love," geared toward encouraging "skilled conversations" — in other words, exercises "in forced empathy".
The classes teach students how to have "skilled conversations" or rather, I should say, how to stop having the let's-see-who-rhetorically-wins skirmishes that were standard in our house.
We'd had some skilled conversations, which helped a bit, as I now knew those weekends with his in-laws made Dan feel alienated and left out of our family decision-making.
"High-quality advance-care planning discussions help people like me understand their options and make their wishes known... over time they can guide providers to deliver the care that patients and their families want". So how do we get physicians trained for these skilled conversations?
Yet now in our marriage class, following the skilled-conversation template, the emotional distance between us on this issue seemed to collapse.
I felt suddenly very bold and skilled at conversation.
A lengthy questionnaire is avoided and is replaced by a skilled supportive conversation that identifies goals for treatment that are important to parents.
Tips for skilled civic conversations: 1. Drop the goal to convert.
