45 Conversation Starters to Bolster Your Bond with Your Friends and Family
Is this a familiar scenario? You’re sitting around the table, at home or at a restaurant. You and your loved ones have already talked about each other’s days. You’ve already discussed the delicious meal and any upcoming plans.
And now you’re sitting and maybe eating. In silence. Or maybe everyone is looking down and tinkering with their phones.
Or maybe you have lively, fascinating conversations when you’re together. But you’d like to dig deeper.
That’s where questions come in. Questions give us the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of each other, of ourselves.
According to Garry Poole in his book The Complete Book of Questions: 1001 Conversation Starters for Any Occasion, “There is something powerful about questions that force you to think, look within yourself, examine your heart, and search for answers. And it’s in the process of responding to those questions that you often make discoveries about yourself — things you never even realized before.”
The right questions help us make these deep discoveries about our loved ones. We get to learn surprising insights we otherwise wouldn’t be privy to. There are many things we don’t know about our friends and family, and ourselves.
Here are 45 questions to help you get to know your loved ones a whole lot better and bolster your bond. Be sure to follow up each question with “Why?”
Get curious about your loved ones, their thoughts and dreams, their perspectives on the world and life. Ask these questions tonight at dinner or tomorrow at lunch. Ask them during a date with your partner.
No doubt they’ll spark interesting conversations. Maybe these questions will spark other questions you’d like to learn the answers to.
Whatever questions you ask, Poole stresses the importance of listening to the answers. Give your loved ones your undivided attention as they speak. Try to understand where they’re coming from. It’s these kinds of conversations that strengthen our relationships and which we treasure looking back.
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About Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.
Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S., is an Associate Editor at Psych Central. She also explores self-image issues on her own blog Weightless and creativity on her blog Make a Mess: Everyday Creativity.
Tartakovsky, M. (2015). 45 Conversation Starters to Bolster Your Bond with Your Friends and Family. Psych Central. Retrieved on December 27, 2017, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2015/03/22/45-conversation-starters-to-bolster-your-bond-with-your-friends-and-family/
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 7 Mar 2015
Originally published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
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