Sometimes the disagreements in relationships can lead to World War 3 – Nasty and hurtful.

There are five things you can do to stop things from getting there.

No physical threats or actions.
Anytime we let things get physical we are entering a place where one or both of you does not feel safe. The message being sent is about intimidation and dominance.

No shouting or yelling.
When we raise our voices, we tend to drown out what the other person is saying and trying to force our views on them. Yelling escalates things to where nasty and hurtful words are used.

No name calling.
Insulting someone will never send a loving message to the other person. All they hear is that you hate them and do not love them.

No raising past issues.
By bringing in issues from the past, just makes things worse and always leads to blaming and shaming. You can only resolve one issue at a time. If there are other issues then deal with them once you deal with the current issue, otherwise things just get worse.

No threats to leave.
Threatening to leave may make you feel better but is will not resolve the disagreement you are in the middle of. If use this strategy too many times the other person will realise it is just a way for you to shut them down and get your way.

These rules will only work if you both agree to abide by them. If one of you will not agree to them, then it suggests they may not be as committed to ending World War 3 in your relationship as you are.

But if you both abide by these rules then World War 3 is going to be a lot harder to get to!