Let Your No Be No - in Dating

Love, love, love it when we find and receive confirmations of the messages we send to our single friends at Cache' Connections. Last night we received the following message from our friend/fan/member we'll call Don. Also, we love knowing that members are reading Christian books that help them with their relationships.

Hi Linda and Kim,
I'm currently reading Dr. Henry Cloud's latest book, 'Necessary Endings'.
One particular passage spoke to me and I thought it worth sharing. I started to write to you in facebook, and decided to go here instead.
The passage is in Ch. 11, and the title of the passage is 'Often the outcome is good.'
Here is the passage:
'My friend was stuck in her dating life, and it was time to do one right. She was ready to end another short-term dating relationship by just disappearing and dropping out of sight, off of his radar. I told her that if she ever wanted to get where she wanted to be in life and in dating, she had to learn to be more forthright about endings and delivering bad news to people. And I told her that if she wanted my help anymore, she had to call this guy and tell him that she had enjoyed going out with him but that she did not want to go out anymore.
She resisted, but finally made the call. When she did, she was jolted. Expecting the worst, she got the opposite. He said, "I just want to thank you for telling me this in a straightforward manner. You have restored my faith in women and also saved me a lot of time and effort by not continuing to go out with me if it were not going to go anywhere. I wish all women would do what you just did."
She could not believe it, but I gave her a "told you so" coach's nod. It not only helped him, but it also took her to a whole new level of functioning in her relationships with men. Not long after that, she finally attracted the kind of guy she had been looking for: honest, responsible and kind. Why? She had to become that sort of person first before she was going to attract one. That is one of the reasons I had her make the call in the first place. It was not just for him, but also for her development. She had to become what she was looking for before she would ever find it.'

I know this applies to both men and women. I'm sharing it because this has happened to me on a number of occasions and although I have been good at doing thihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifs most of the time, I have not been 100%. I feel closure is important for both sides and the honorable thing.
You had recently shared a point on Facebook that ' no answer, is a 'no' answer'. This is true, but it takes a lot longer to figure it out and I feel more hurtful than speaking the truth in love.

How about you? Have you practiced the graceful act of providing closure to potential matches and those you've met or dated?

~ Linda
Cache' Connections