Unique and Yet Alike

Isn't it interesting that no two people are alike and yet we have so much in common? That is especially true when it come to relationship.

These likenesses become the basis of humor all over the world. Jokes like this one that someone sent to me on the internet:

"Woman's Perfect Breakfast

She is sitting at the table with her gourmet coffee

Her son is on the cover of the Wheaties box

Her daughter is on the cover of Business Week

Her boy friend is on the cover of Playgirl

And her husband is on the back of the milk carton."

It is hard to escape the humor in this because at some level the reader understands why it is funny. Complaints about relationship are so much the same that a therapist, like me, has heard them over and over again. Too often they resonate because of personal experience as well.

It is that old story. In relationship0 we seem to do over and over again what has never worked for us. We talk more. We complain more. We expect more. We act surprised when a person who has never been punctual is late again.

What is helpful is to become aware and learn to talk less, complain less, expect less, and try a response that is new or different. Maybe it will work. Maybe not.