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Areas › Your marriage › Repair after rupture
Processing means talking about the incident, not re-fighting it. Wait until the heat is gone.
If a couple fears estrangement, there is no blame in seeking a peaceful settlement, for peace is best (Quran 4:128). Repair sought in calm is the peace named as best.
النساء
وَإِنِ ٱمۡرَأَةٌ خَافَتۡ مِنۢ بَعۡلِهَا نُشُوزًا أَوۡ إِعۡرَاضࣰ ا فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيۡهِمَآ أَن يُصۡلِحَا بَيۡنَهُمَا صُلۡحࣰ اۚ وَٱلصُّلۡحُ خَيۡرࣱۗ وَأُحۡضِرَتِ ٱلۡأَنفُسُ ٱلشُّحَّۚ وَإِن تُحۡسِنُواْ وَتَتَّقُواْ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعۡمَلُونَ خَبِيرࣰ ا
If a wife fears high-handedness or alienation from her husband, neither of them will be blamed if they come to a peaceful settlement, for peace is best. Although human souls are prone to selfishness, if you do good and are mindful of God, He is well aware of all that you do
Qur’an 4:128read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Gottman's aftermath processing is done from the balcony, talking about the fight rather than having it again. It works only once both partners are calm, because revisiting it while still activated simply restarts it.
John M. Gottman (1999). The Marriage Clinic: A Scientifically Based Marital Therapy. W. W. Norton
The Aftermath of a Fight. A regrettable incident is processed only once both partners are calm, in order: each states how they felt, each states their subjective reality and the other validates it, earlier triggers are named, each takes responsibility for a part, and together they name one constructive plan.
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Discussing a past conflict from a calm distance lets you repair it instead of reigniting it.
Where this sits: Gottman method, Manage Conflict; Aftermath of a Fight or Regrettable Incident (process from the balcony).