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So Grateful for this review in the ABA journal Bifocal.   https://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_aging/publications/bifocal/vol-41/bifocal-vol-41--issue-3/how-to-live-forever--a-guide-to-writing-the-final-chapter-of-you/

               MANAGING CONFLICT ==> iTUNES https://apple.co/2Nrf6gi OR  http://bit.ly/2E9psNGThe person who once was your closest friend may now be a familial foe with whom you must learn to co-parent. For the sake of our kids, we want to co-parent well. Kimberly Best, a professional conflict mediator, shows us ways to find solutions no matter the source of conflict.https://www.bestconflictsolutions.com/                        

  The holidays are coming, and with the joy and cheer comes some stress. Families get together and there are those inevitable unresolved grudges, lingering hurt feelings, those testy relationships, the little dread around the recurring themes, and the “difficult” people. How to cope? Here are some tips to help you thrive and maintain healthy relationships during the holidays. 1. Remember, no one has changed anyone’s mind on politics, religion or anything else during these family conversations. It is possible to listen without countering. Maybe you could listen for what is right. It is possible to listen with curiosity; to ask more questions a ...

Forgiveness and Reconciliation- The peace of Working Through Conflict. The final step in the conflict process is exploring forgiveness and reconciliation. It is a discussion on how to apologize and how to accept apology. To ask for forgiveness and to forgive. Then we move on to reconciliation. What will our relationship look like moving forward. How do we right the wrongs.  Mike Martin writes: Many of us struggle to forgive those who have wronged or angered us, especially when we cannot avoid future encounters with them because they are a family member, close friend, or co-worker. There are two approaches that have helped me whenever I strug ...

There is nothing so complicated as relationships.  And how could they not be?  We are all so different, with varying degrees of likes and dislikes, passions, skills, abilities, needs, and opinions.  We have different chemistries, biologies, experiences.  Even words mean something different to each person.  Interactions are complicated.   How could there not be conflict?   Because we are biological beings, the first things that happen in conflict are physical changes.  Fight or flight.   Thinking stops.  Walls go up around our hearts.   We are unable to see past our own pain (and needs and wants).  The irony of this is, the person we are in co ...

“Peace is not the absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means” - Ronald Reagan The more I learn about conflict management and good communication, the more I am amazed by how simple and possible and life changing having good skills in these areas can be….and the more I realize how little most of us have learned.    Think about how conflict was handled in your childhood.   For me, there were two dominant, nuclear powers.   Their names were Mom and Dad.  I can’t remember ever being able to say “no”. (Just think of the fallout for that alone;  a young lady who grows up never learning to have a voice, choice, or abi ...

I heard a story recently about a friend of a friend who is taking steps to end his decade-plus marriage.  Like many such stories, years of problems and blame have led to unresolved anger, bitterness, and withdrawal. All of the joy and affection are gone and the marriage has been sexless for years. The couple feels that they have tried everything that they know how to do, or are willing to do, to save their relationship.  Their problems have grown and escalated so they no longer have hope of bridging the distance between them.   Now begins the painful, agonizing process of tearing apart two lives that have been joined together.   When I hear t ...