Avoid Emotional Illiteracy © Martyn Carruthers

Online Life Coaching, Counseling & Soulwork Therapy

Do you want to manage your emotions and solve relationship problems?

What is Maturity?

Maturity is a choice, and every choice you make displays your maturity! For men, maturity often includes desires to cooperate and to solve problems. For women, maturity often includes desires for parental responsibilities and to communicate feelings.

Maturity indicates an ability to understand people and use healthy relationship skills. It’s a sad fact that, for immature people, maturity seems boring! Many immature people prefer drama, distractions and emotional displays to healthy lives. Puberty can last a lifetime!

You can assess maturity by how people behave, or by how they answer questions like:

Quickly check your personal maturity …

Are you generally responsible?	YES – MAYBE – NO
Are you friendly? Do you have many friends?	YES – MAYBE – NO
Are you reliable? Do you finish what you start?	YES – MAYBE – NO
Are you truthful? Do you generally avoid deception?	YES – MAYBE – NO
Are you usually proactive to solving life challenges?	YES – MAYBE – NO
Have you suffered enough? Do you want to change?	YES – MAYBE – NO
Can you enjoy trying new ways and new behaviors?	YES – MAYBE – NO
Are you financially prepared to invest in your own future?	YES – MAYBE – NO
Are you ready to examine and change any self-sabotage?	YES – MAYBE – NO
Do you intend to improve your health, wealth and happiness?	YES – MAYBE – NO

 For each YES – give yourself 3 points
For each MAYBE – only 1 point
Count your points …

0 – 15	You have an immature approach to life – and you can choose to change!
Over 15	You enjoy maturity. Why not develop your potential even more?
Over 25	You could be a great coach. Read about our professional training

 

[ If you want to check your Partnership Skills, see Patterns of Partnership ]

The following table highlights differences between partners with mature and immature partnership skills. I assume that the infatuation portion of a relationship is over (usually the shortest part of a partnership), and the couple either develop mature partnership skills or commence some form of relationship stagnation or breakdown.

Mature Partnership	Immature Relationship
Partners often show appreciation and gratitude to each other	One or both are often dissociated, irritated, depressed, critical or show contempt
Partners respond to most verbal and nonverbal communications	One or both ignore, avoid or shorten most communications
Partners review events in their history	They rarely review their relationship history
Partners greet after time apart and ask about each other’s activities and other news	They rarely interact when together, without even silent intimacy
Partners enjoy meeting each other’s needs for passion, intimacy and commitment	One or both often ignore or criticize the other’s goals and needs
Partners discuss goals and dreams, finding shared values and creating shared meanings.	They rarely discuss goals, values or dreams
Partners share meals and housework together	One person often cooks or cleans alone
Partners often go out together	They generally prefer to go out alone
Partners create projects which require committed cooperation	One or both often avoid, ignore or give small attention to shared projects
They wish to stay together to enjoy sharing partnership and parenthood happiness	One or both want to separate but cannot because of guilt, fear or constraints
They respect most of each other’s choices and decisions, and politely discuss differences	One or both show contempt for the other’s decisions and angrily demand changes
Partners want happiness together	One or both prefer happiness alone

Happiness Reflects Maturity

Your maturity reflects your role models, your life experiences and how you react to problems. You can improve your maturity … if you learn to manage your emotions, and gain knowledge and skills. You can participate in adult relationships – as an adult.

Can you commit to an intimate partner and ignore other potential partners? This exposes your trust and dependability. Your maturity can support your partner to explore life together with you. Maturity also supports a sense of integrity, and helps restore trust if it has been damaged.

Do you want to understand and accept your partner? This characteristic of healthy partnership enables couples to solve problems during difficult times and to use unpleasant feelings as a barometer for change. Mature people accept partners as they are – and encourage them to change how they want.

Maturity reflects your ability to accept responsibility for your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Can you monitor your thoughts and feelings, rather than making excuses? Mature partners plan to attain partnership goals. Mature people do not blame their partner, parents or boss for their own emotions.

Maturity affects a couple’s ability to make decisions together, to solve relationship problems, and to resolve conflicts quickly and effectively. We help partners coach each other rather than to try to control each other.

While conflicts are inevitable, maturity allows both sides of conflicts to be understood and resolved. Mature partners own their contributions to their relationship and can search for solutions to the many problems inherent in teamwork and parenthood.

Immaturity in Marriage and Partnership

We often teach people communication and conflict resolution skills. Some people need more help than others, for example people who avoid making decisions or who sabotage other people’s happiness.

We help couples untangle from their parents and/or ex-partners, and make strong foundations for new lives together.

1. We check the goals and objections about being together
2. We help people understand each others’ goals and reactions
3. We help people manage enmeshments with family and past-partners etc

We coach people to explore, discuss and plan relationship goals, and to solve life conflicts and challenges together. We also help people separate peacefully.

Contact us to solve emotional and relationship problems.