How to Repair a Relationship

When a relationship has a conflict, it starts to stagnate, almost pulled to a halt, until the parties address and resolve what is happening. That is part of the dance and magic of interacting with human beings, sometimes it flows and sometimes we are on opposite ends of an issue. This tends to happen in serious relationships but also some that are on going, but casual in nature of the relating.

If the relationship is important to you then you will give a little more attention to it. What I mean about that is that you will be more willing to admit your part in the conflict, maybe even apologize for some behavior you exhibited and take responsibility to help move forward and not have this happen again. If the relationship is just a casual one, you still may have to take responsibility for your part in giving better communication or being calmer, even though it may be a heated exchange; like in a customer service relationship or coworker relationship where you keep coming to an impasse.

But the equation is always the same. Someone has to give, someone has to call a truce and state that they are willing to do their part in working things out to a fair resolution. If this is a loved one it can be tricky because we carry so much history and bias as to who is right and who is wrong. But, there is also more at stake, because we hold this person near and dear to us, so it is much better to handle the conflict with empathy and compassion, then to get to be "right" about some fact that doesn't even matter.

So the first step would be to take the high road and call for a resolution, the next step is build trust again. After any conflict most of us just want to get back to our comfort level and keep going with a new resolution. There are times though that the only way to do that is by building trust, and sometimes that is required from both parties and/or sometimes just one party. Only you know in your heart of hearts, what you want from this relationship, and what you really are willing to do to keep the relationship flowing smoothly. Once you have assessed the importance level in your mind, it will give you an idea of what you are willing to do to keep the relationship intact or perhaps go your separate ways.