How to Resolve Relationship Conflict

In relationship, disagreement and conflicts are unavoidable. When two people live together, it is almost impossible to view all the things from the same perspective. Conflict arises whenever person has personality differences like as different values, opinions, needs,interest, communication gap, arguments over responsibility , authority, misunderstanding, ego clash ,independence, freedom and they are unable to find a middle way. It results in solid arguments, physical abuses, violence, anger, feeling of being defeated and loss of peace and harmony. It can happen in any relationships, but the matter is how we are dealing with it.

Relationship conflict can be extremely stressful which can have a negative impact on our health and happiness whether with a partner, relatives, parents, sibling, friends, co-workers, clients. If we can handle it appropriately, it can bring people close together.

During conflict, we always consider ourselves right –that’s why it can be very difficult to resolve. But, when you are able to resolve conflict successfully, you can develop strong and healthy relationship with anyone. Here you can find some effective tips which will be helpful to handle your next argument in a healthy way. Keep Reading. 🙂

Find Out Root Cause of Problems:-
First major step for resolving conflict is to identify the origin of the problems. If you don’t know about the root cause of the problems, you are not able to find out the proper solution and conflict will never end. Without finding root cause, it will waste your time, frustrate you and make the conflict longer. You should ask lots of question to yourself to clarify the root cause of problems which can help you to resolve it much faster.

Listening Skills:-

Listening skill is one of the best ways to resolve conflict as it allows you to understand other’s thought in an effective way. So, one should try to listen what other person is saying without interrupting them and should not form a counter argument. We should pay attention towards what they are telling instead of preparing responses and thinking about how wrong the other person is and jumping to the conclusion. Active listening can help you to establish trust and understand about their perspectives, opinions, emotions and needs.

Keep Calm and Be Respectful:-

You have to control your own behavior and responses because everyone should be treated with respectful way even during conflict.

Staying calm during conflict is one of the most difficult challenges that we all face. We can learn to stay calm during conflict. Deep breathing is a best way to stay calm and relaxed which also help us providing best solution for our problems. So, take a deep breath for at least 5 minutes while you are in the middle of heated arguments. It will trigger a relaxation response in our body, restrict ourselves from reacting and interpret other person’s emotion.

Don’t Blame:-

We have the tendency to blame others because it’s very easy to make someone else responsible for everything what happened rather than considering yourself. We give our full efforts by blaming them to win the arguments at any cost. But we should stop blaming others and put our energy on understanding each other’s points and try to shift our conversation from blame to resolution. It will help us to nourish our relationship.

Stick to One Issue:-

Whenever we fight with someone, we always drag some other issues which are happened in past and start complaining rather than solving current issues. For example, fight happens due to lack of attention towards household activities and we start arguing about all the past issue to win the battle instead of solving current issue about finishing household activities. So, you should be specific about what is exactly bothering you and focus on one issue until it gets fully resolved. Instead of dragging every issue, you should discuss about the current issue and letting go of the rest which will help you to save your time and energy.

Forgiveness:-

Researcher who studied about conflict agreed that forgiveness is one of the important factors to resolve conflict. There is a saying,” Resentment is like drinking a poison and hoping it will kill your enemies”. If you hold on hurt, anger, pain, resentment, regret, thoughts of revenge, it will only affect your health.

When you forgive, your mind releases the negative thoughts and emotions which bring you back your happiness and well-being. You literally make yourself free through forgiveness. By forgiving, you will be able to see all the positive sides of the other person who hurts you. It allows us to move on without resentment or revenge and sustain our peace, hope, gratitude, kindness, respect and joy. You should also apologize for any words and actions you used during conflict.

Take a Break: –

Sometimes it’s very difficult to continue discussion while doing heated arguments. If you are not able to find out middle way and generates negative vibes, you should take a break from the discussion until you both settle down. It will give you time to calm down and identify more focused viewpoint on the issues. One should stay apart from the fight at least 30 minutes to get relaxed that will quickly help you to release frustration.

Talk Face to Face:-
The only way to avoid further misunderstanding is through face to face conversation. Communication through email, chats, and phone calls to discuss about an issue is an ineffective way. Talking to people face to face is the best way to see other person’s expression, hand gestures, body language, feelings, attention and sympathy which can help you to convince other person easily and the conflict can easily solved.

Compromise:-

If you want to resolve your conflict, you have to learn how to compromise. It’s very easy to say but hard to follow in a daily basis for everyone. So, one should try to learn this approach for the betterment of their relationships. For example, if your partner/friend wants to go outside for party and you want to stay at home? Compromise to go outside and avoid arguments. Learn to compromise sometimes and find out the middle way of the problems which will ultimately provide you more satisfaction, happiness and peaceful life.

Hope this will help you to resolve your next conflict in a healthy way. Did you try any of the above tips? Please feel free to share your experience. Really excited to know which tip works for you.

Thank you so much for your kind support.

Nirali.