It happens all the time. A couple will come to me for marriage counseling, and I can see the fear in the husband’s eyes as soon as he figures out that this “Britt” isn’t a man.It’s not that he’s necessarily sexist, but I can so much as hear the voice in his head that says, “Great, now these two women are going to gang up on me.”

A recent…

Does ‘being right’ have consequences?

Katie Coombs thinks so. She recently wrote a column in my local paper entitled “I’d rather not be right.”

Katie feels that by if you choose to always ‘be right,’ then you risk the relationships that you have.  She commented that she would rather live in a world where people can make mistakes,…

I think most of us live two personas: The person and the professional. And, although both sides are often intertwined, I’m starting to find that, when it comes to conflict resolution, the two sides have an almost magnetic repulsion.

I have several clients who are in professions that require they be conflict resolution experts (social workers, HR managers, etc.), and, by all accounts, they’re doing an excellent job. However, when it comes to putting those…

Every good conversation starts with good listening.

My colleague Jill, who is an adjunct professor at the University of Nevada Reno in Communication Studies, gave me a wonderful “pearl” after coffee one day. She forwarded a copy of the HURIER Listening Profile to me so I could do a self-assessment of my listening skills.

Jill said it might be fun if I guessed how I will do before completing the form … which I did.

So, I thought that HURIER was…

If we REALLY want to talk about conflict resolution, then, I need to share with you my experience last week on my trip to Atlanta from Chicago.  O.K.–settle in.

It all started very benign. My family and I boarded our 1 1/2 hour flight to Atlanta with joy–vacation time! And, by all accounts, everything was going smoothly. Until…

During our descent into Atlanta, the pilot informed us we needed to go around some storms to avoid hitting them. No problem.…

I was reading a book the other day that I’ll tell you more about when I finish it, but in the meantime, I thought I would share some research it contained.

It had to do with the therapeutic action of writing. In the 1980s, a social psychologist named James Pennebaker, developed this form of writing therapy which posited that “writing one’s feelings gradually eases feelings of emotional trauma.”(1) …

Talk about conflict resolution skills! I have a very young, very sweet pre-marital counseling couple which comes to see me, and that’s usually the topic of conversation.I figure–teach them good conflict resolution skills, and they’ll be set. So, we focus on them quite a bit.

Last night, they brought up a recent argument about registering for a crystal ice bucket, retail price $350.00. She wanted it–he didn’t. So, I used the opportunity to teach them about…

I stopped by the store the other day and bought a $3.99 bouquet of flowers for my mom – I found her favorites, alstroemeria. She LOVED them … you would think that I had given her a giant arrangement – you know the kind that you see in the lobby of a fancy hotel.

That got me to thinking that bringing a little joy to someone you care about…