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A Better Perspective On Conflict ..

Started by Jutsin · 4 Mar 2007 · 9 posts survive (9 recovered from printable/lo-fi copies) · Wayback

Jutsinr
I find that the following mindset/mantra has helped me in many stressful situations, not necessarily just ones that revolve around conflict/arguments. Give it a read, and possibly make life a little easier for yourself!

This is taken from a guy named Adam Khan, who authored the book: Self-Help Stuff That Works.

A lot of things might help you in your relationship, but when you try to sift out the most important, your ability to deal with conflict will be at or near the top of the list.

Would you like to experience less conflict? Would you like to feel calmer during conflicts? Would you like to resolve them easier? Here's how: Remember whatever is happening is temporary. There are several reasons this principle is so important.

When someone assumes her problem is permanent, it can lead to depression, according to Martin Seligman, one of the top researchers in his field. Assuming that something bad is permanent is one of the biggest contributors to the downward spiral of depression, and depression is the most common psychological problem people experience — and one of the most destructive. Merely being disheartened is a mild form of depression. Although it's milder, it happens more often. When you feel disheartened, you want to stop trying. This not only feels bad, it makes you less capable of dealing well with conflict.

Coming from an entirely different angle, Buddha tried to find out what caused suffering. By his own assessment, one of his most important findings is that when people fail to accept the temporary nature of things, they suffer more than they need to. According to Buddha (and I happen to agree with him on this), this lack of acceptance that things are temporary and always changing is one of the main sources of suffering for humanity.

When Abraham Lincoln was in the White House, he experienced stress, and that is an understatement if I've ever made one! Soldiers were getting slaughtered by the tens of thousands and Lincoln was the one sending them to their tragic deaths. He was a deeply empathetic man, so this tremendous slaughter caused him immense despair and sadness and pain. But it needed to be done, and decisions needed to be made every day. To keep himself calm enough to deal with it, he often said to himself, this too shall pass. He used this phrase as a kind of mantra. He was able to maintain his rationality and carry out his duties at a crucial time in history — largely by reminding himself again and again that whatever is happening is temporary.

This too shall pass. The one constant in this universe is that everything changes. Remind yourself of this and you'll suffer less. You'll get disheartened less often and less intensely. And — back to our original purpose — you'll deal with conflict better.

Say that phrase to yourself next time you feel upset about something. Use it as a mantra. The circumstances that caused the upset will change — maybe not all of them, but some parts of your circumstances will change all by themselves fairly quickly. And remind yourself that your feelings will change inevitably, even if you do nothing to change them. You won't stay upset forever. I know this is obvious to you now, but when you're upset, you tend to forget this important truth.

It's a simple idea, but it can dramatically ease the strain of the moment, making you better able to deal with it, creating less stress in your body, and making you a calmer person to interact with.


Say to yourself in times of stress:
This too shall pass.
missvixenr
i love it smile.gif
PaulHamonr

nice work. i love wink.gif i've been doing alot of reading on this topic and what what you say is very true, or was it budha that said it... anyway Jutsin... this to shall pass great mantra!
Elektro Kittenr
Yeah i agree with that. I'm a firm believer of a) everything happens for a reason cool.gif as soon as you accept a situation, for good or bad, the sooner is passes. Just keep thinking forward, and bigger and better things will come.

This i've believed for years, and through following this i've came to be one of the happiest people i know. And thats something I'm proud of smile.gif

Just keep thinking forward, and yeah, whatever is now, will pass smile.gif
KittiChikr
omg that is so strange because I was about to write in the quote thread that

"The only thing permanent in life, is change"

You can't keep everything the way it has been because you want it too, things will change, people change, life changes. Just have to go with it smile.gif I really should take my own advice sometimes!
Jutsinr
QUOTE(KittiChik @ Mar 4 2007, 08:49 PM)
omg that is so strange because I was about to write in the quote thread that

"The only thing permanent in life, is change"

You can't keep everything the way it has been because you want it too, things will change, people change, life changes. Just have to go with it smile.gif I really should take my own advice sometimes!
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I read your mind winksmiley02.gif

It's often hard to live by your own advice, or your own philosophies - but once you properly embrace them and start doing it .. things become SO much easier smile.gif
Fulcrumr
QUOTE(Jutsin @ Mar 5 2007, 12:40 PM)
It's often hard to live by your own advice, or your own philosophies - but once you properly embrace them and start doing it .. things become SO much easier smile.gif
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Yep, once everything fits right, and you have your own philosophy it's almost as if you know the meaning of life... Regardless of what comes at you, you can handle it. smile.gif

I love this stuff biggrin.gif
crIs Pr
nice one Justin biggrin.gif
*smp*r
Life is a constant flow of ups and down.....this mantra is just an affirmation of it! All bad times (eventually) pass, only to be followed by better times biggrin.gif