¶ … Resolve a Disagreement Peacefully
Disagreements and conflict are as much a part of life for most people as cooperation and understanding. That being the case, it is vital that intelligent, well-meaning people adopt sensible, proven strategies to resolve disagreements and conflicts. This paper provides strategies that can be embraced in order to avoid disagreements -- or at least resolve them peacefully once they are in play.
Because no two people see the world in exactly the same way, there are bound to be disagreements, and when one side makes unsupported assumptions about the other side that can very easily lead to disagreements and conflict. It is easy to simply say to those who may judge another person unfairly: well, don't make assumptions about people until the truth can be known or shown, but that's not the way people function. It is not a perfect world and unfair assumptions are going to be made. According to Sara Reistad-Long, there are five ways to keep the peace. One is to take a deep breath after being insulted -- or when feelings have been hurt by someone's false assumption -- and go out of your way...
A second way to resolve a disagreement is to have a neutral third person help to resolve the issue by intervening before the disagreement turns to highly emotional conflict. That neutral third person should listen to both sides of the argument and ask the two parties to try and work toward a common goal, Reistad-Long explains. The third way to resolve conflict is to let the other person "win a few small points" as a way of "acknowledging his feelings and encouraging him to reciprocate" (Reistad-Long). Number four on this list is to simply shift focus away from yourself and towards the other person or persons in the discussion; think about why that person is stubbornly hanging on to a petty point-of-view, and then "…you've made room for compassion" (Reistad-Long). The fifth way to keep the peace is to immediately offer a compliment to the person that has made a statement that offends. "I really appreciate your passion for this," shows you are listening and are willing to acknowledge the other person's viewpoint,…
