Hearts: A Powerful Relationship Building Game
One of my favorite, most versatile, and most effective communication tool is one my wife and I created called Hearts . For many years when friends of ours got married, we gave them two gifts: one from their gift registry, and the second was a deck of cards. We always gave the cards to them personally, along with an explanation of how to use them. Renée introduced this communication tool to us to manage the differences in how we dealt with conflict. I liked debating and was very comfortable with conflict. Renée, on the other hand, came into our marriage with a conflict-avoidance style but an understanding of the importance of dealing with conflict when it arose. The Hearts card game allowed her to manage her discomfort with conflict without avoiding it. The game is very simple. It works like this: whoever has an issue to discuss finds a mutually convenient time to play. The rules are as follows: The person who suggested we play shuffles and deals the card. The dealer states the to...