The next step in building your own sound relationship house is learning to create a positive perspective or positive sentiment override instead of a negative sentiment override. Many couples experience positive sentiment override at the start of a relationship.
“Logic is one thing, the human animal another. You can quite easily propose a logical solution to something and at the same time hope in your heart of hearts it won’t work out.” -Luigi Pirandello
I could write a novella about drama I have personally experienced during past holiday seasons. I am definitely still learning how to prevent and diffuse interpersonal conflict, especially during the holiday season, but here are some things I have discovered.
Last month I wrote about damage control and managing conflict. I have found that many of my clients (and friends) have to deal with more interpersonal conflict and damage control than usual during the holiday season. This is because the holidays are a time when we are expected to spend time with family members. And, […]
The next step in building your own sound relationship house is turning towards instead of away from your partner. This means learning to recognize little day-to-day attempts made by your partner to connect with you.
Practicing healthy communication and appropriate emotions management can be difficult when feelings are running high. We have a need to be heard and understood, especially at times when it feels as if we are not being heard or understood. In order to have that need met, sometimes we tend to get louder, angrier, or more […]
In the practical blog on conflict I offered some simple steps to dealing with conflict. Now I want to talk about how I (and I think most people) handle conflict.
Interpersonal conflict is guaranteed in life. Some would even say the holidays foster it as we find ourselves spending time with family members we may try to avoid the remainder of the year. In December’s blog I will talk about ways to prevent conflict. But for now, let’s talk about how to handle conflict once […]
The next step in building your own sound relationship house is nurturing fondness and admiration. Sometimes in relationships, we can let the stresses of life get in the way and it can be easy to focus on the negative things about our partner instead of enjoying who they are like we do at the beginning […]
Marriages and romantic relationships take a lot of work, and it is hard to know what to do when we don’t feel the relationship is as satisfying as it could be. Luckily, there is a researcher named John Gottman who has spent decades studying love and marriage scientifically and has developed a list of traits […]
