Conflict

It's a part of daily life.  So many struggle with how to deal with conflict in a healthy manner.  We can blow up and get upset when something happens, or we can avoid the issue and storm away, never resolving the issue.  Both of these lead to further issues of mistrust and hurt between the parties.
So how do we handle it in a positive way?  It starts with honesty and talking to the other party right away.  Often times, people don't do things to us to purposefully hurt us, but we make assumptions that the act was done maliciously.  If we are honest with the other person, saying I felt hurt when you did this, because I felt like you meant to hurt me.  Often the response back will be, oh, I didn't mean to hurt you, I didn't realize that when I did that, it hurt you.  Not only does this clear up confusion and keep us from making inaccurate assumptions, but it will help down the line, now that this person knows not to do that again.  When talking through conflict, always use "I" statements, stating how you feel, because it's no longer an opinion then, but truly how you feel.
This is not something that is easy, because we become vulnerable when we approach someone.  We feel like we will be hurt worse if the person sees us with pain.  But trust me, usually it will be a healing process.  Conflict is something that will never go away, so it's important to learn how to deal with conflict and to deal with it effectively.  Let's work on effectively communicating with eachother!