Key points

Truth-telling in committed relationships requires courage, compassion, and practice.

Fear, shame, and lifelong patterns affect how we communicate deeply.

Learning to express vulnerable truths with clarity and compassion improves relationship safety and trust.

Guts typically refer to “innards," and truth and compassion live at the core of an ever-deepening relationship. Referring to someone as having “guts” typically denotes some measure of bravery. That’s also true when a couple commits to truth-telling accompanied by compassion. Revealing what lives at our core takes courage, and expressing it without being offensive demands practice. It is only too easy for a shaming smirk or an amplified tone to hurt the listener. And then the listener who summoned enough courage to

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