The change, to improve the way one manages conflict, needs to come from a deeper place and that is the most important lesson I take from this chapter. Some of my past conflicts might not have happened had I known about this. Chapter 7 is about managing stress. The authors note that stress is "experienced subjectively as a biochemical reaction within the body" (p. 121) -- the key being that stress is a reaction, not the cause of a reaction. The author defines four types of stress -- eustress (short-term intense stress), hypostress (underload), hyperstress (being overwhelmed) and distress (lack of control over a situation, or unclear source).

I found this chapter to be very insight, even from the basic definitions of the four types of stress. Just understanding that there are different types of stress helps one to understand where stressful feelings come from, so that...

I like the lesson of not taking things in life too seriously. It is easy to forget about that sometimes, especially when one is a student.
The author presents, beginning on page 129, a set of solutions that I think I can apply to my life. These solutions I think will be valuable to revisit during times of stress, if for no other reason than they are a good reminder that we are facing stress. Conflict often arises from people who suffer from stress -- distress is singled out as a major corollary factor -- and we can avoid conflict simply by avoiding stress. This is a simple, but valuable and overlooked lesson. I know that I can see in past instances in my life where I have allowed stress to get the better of me, and this reduces my ability to handle conflict situations, or to avoid them altogether when they serve no useful…