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Areas › Your marriage › Staying regulated in conflict
We are doing the thing where I push and you go quiet. The cycle is the enemy, not you.
The Qur'an says Satan sows discord among people and is a sworn enemy to them. Naming the pattern rather than the person keeps the blame where it belongs, on the thing pulling you apart.
الإسراء
وَقُل لِّعِبَادِي يَقُولُواْ ٱلَّتِي هِيَ أَحۡسَنُۚ إِنَّ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنَ يَنزَغُ بَيۡنَهُمۡۚ إِنَّ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنَ كَانَ لِلۡإِنسَٰنِ عَدُوࣰّ ا مُّبِينࣰ ا
[Prophet], tell My servants to say what is best. Satan sows discord among them: Satan is a sworn enemy of man
Qur’an 17:53read it in the library
آل عمران
وَٱعۡتَصِمُواْ بِحَبۡلِ ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعࣰ ا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُواْۚ وَٱذۡكُرُواْ نِعۡمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيۡكُمۡ إِذۡ كُنتُمۡ أَعۡدَآءࣰ فَأَلَّفَ بَيۡنَ قُلُوبِكُمۡ فَأَصۡبَحۡتُم بِنِعۡمَتِهِۦٓ إِخۡوَٰنࣰ ا وَكُنتُمۡ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفۡرَةࣲ مِّنَ ٱلنَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنۡهَاۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمۡ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَهۡتَدُونَ
Hold fast to God’s rope all together; do not split into factions. Remember God’s favour to you: you were enemies and then He brought your hearts together and you became brothers by His grace; you were about to fall into a pit of Fire and He saved you from it- in this way God makes His revelations clear to you so that you may be rightly guided
Qur’an 3:103read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Johnson's first move with a distressed couple is to name the pattern rather than the person. Saying we are doing the thing where I push and you go quiet puts the cycle in the middle of the room as the shared enemy, and takes your spouse out of that role.
Susan M. Johnson (2008). Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love. Little, Brown
Conversation 1, Recognising the Demon Dialogues. Johnson names three patterns, Find the Bad Guy, the Protest Polka, and Freeze and Flee, and holds that the cycle, not the partner, is the enemy: naming it out loud is the first move of de-escalation.
Strength of evidence: seen more than once. Replicated observational or longitudinal work, not tested against a control.
Externalising the negative cycle unites a couple against a shared problem.
Where this sits: EFT, Hold Me Tight Conversation 1: Recognising the Demon Dialogues, naming the cycle as the enemy.