Practices

Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.

What matches

101 practices

Narrow these down

After a hard moment today, hold each other before you move on.

Words can wait. A held embrace after conflict settles the body and the bond.

A minuteAffection and touchEmotionally focusedQur’an 2:187One line of research

People stop telling the truth to anyone who argues with it. Being easy to be honest with is a skill, and it has to be visible from the outside.

Notice what you do in the first three seconds after hearing something you did not want to hear. The explaining, the yes but, the small correction of…

A minuteBringing the future closerADHD skillsQur’an 14:7One line of research

If the same crunch arrives every month, another talk about it will not shift next month. It was never a shortage of information.

For partners this is a hard one, because the frustration is completely fair. But a lecture adds shame to something that already feels unpleasant, and…

Five minutesBringing the future closerADHD skillsQur’an 75:20One line of research

If your break turned into disappearing for the night, look at it as fear rather than as a discipline problem. Anger is often a way out of feeling afraid, and so is running.

Shame teaches badly here. Telling yourself you failed at the skill tends to produce more heat, and heat is the thing you were trying to leave behind.…

Five minutesChoosing your responseGottmanQur’an 7:200One line of research

When a fight starts, name the pattern you both fall into, not the fault in them.

We are doing the thing where I push and you go quiet. The cycle is the enemy, not you.

Looking for a whole subject rather than a single practice? Start from the nine areas.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 3:103Seen more than once

Catch the cycle one move earlier today, before it picks up speed.

The first tightening, the first sharp word. Name it there, when it is still small.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 41:36One line of research

Name your own move in the dance today: I chase when I am scared, or I go quiet.

Not their part. Yours. Owning your step in the pattern is what starts to change it.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 7:23Seen more than once

Say it out loud in the next argument: it is us against this pattern, not me against you.

Realign the sides. The two of you on one team, the cycle on the other.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 49:10One line of research

Notice if one of you chases and one retreats, and name that gently.

The more I push, the more you pull back, and round it goes. See the loop, out loud.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 41:34One line of research

If you both go silent and distant, name the freeze rather than waiting it out.

We have both gone quiet and cold. One of us has to reach first. Let it be you.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 4:35One line of research

Notice the moment a fight really began, often a small hurt, and name that, not the surface.

It started when I felt dismissed, not with the dishes. Find the true first domino.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 33:70One line of research

Step out of the spiral by naming it: there is our cycle again, can we start over.

The name is the exit. Calling the pattern out loud loosens its grip on you both.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 49:10One line of research

In the next hard moment, speak from the soft feeling under the sharp one.

Not you never listen. I feel small when I am not heard. The softer truth de-escalates.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 33:70Seen more than once

Name your part in the last tangle without a single word of blame attached.

I got defensive and shut you out. Full stop, no and you. Clean ownership softens things.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 7:23Seen more than once

Before you speak in anger today, ask what you are afraid of underneath it.

Usually it is a version of: I am afraid I do not matter to you. Say that instead.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 13:28Seen more than once

Share the hurt instead of the accusation in your next hard conversation.

That hurt me is easier to hear than that was cruel. The wound, not the charge.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 33:70Seen more than once

Tell your spouse what you felt, not what they did, in your next complaint.

I felt alone, not you ignored me. The feeling is yours to own and easy to hear.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictEmotionally focusedQur’an 33:70One line of research

Raise the hard thing with how you feel and what you need, not with what they did wrong.

I felt alone last night and would love an evening together, not you always disappear.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictGottmanQur’an 20:44Seen more than once

In the next argument, make one repair attempt, a softer word, a small step back.

Can we start over. I hear you. Let me try again. A hand held out mid-fight.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictGottmanQur’an 49:10Seen more than once

Name the one thing you cannot give up here, and the parts you can flex. Then ask theirs.

Most deadlocks are a small core need wrapped in a lot that is negotiable. Protect the core, trade the edges.

A minuteStaying regulated in conflictGottmanQur’an 4:128Seen more than once