Peaceful Resolution Of Conflict [Part 1]

Everyday in life, people face one form of conflict or the other - in their environment, at work, etc. As a matter of fact, as long as you relate with people, you cannot stop conflicting ideas from springing up, but you can determine how to respond to them. There are times that you will not agree with someone's perception or school of thought or may not agree with their methods, and this may trigger some sorts of friction and whatnot. The truth is that, everyone will not see the world from your point of view, but that does not make either of you wrong. Here, we shall be looking at ways to effectively resolve conflicts.

_{Image from Pixabay}

1. Be open-minded to welcome people's opinion

You have to understand that the world does not revolve around only your opinion. More so, your opinion may not be the best out there, so learn to see things from other people's perspective. Even if you will not eventually agree with their ideas, nothing stops you from welcoming the idea in the first place. You will be surprised that someone else may have a more potent idea than you, but you will not know until you have allowed them. It is also worthy to know that perspective matters a lot and it should be respected. What appears as the number "6" would definitely appear as the number "9" to the person viewing from an opposite direction, and you need to respect that.

When you learn to respect people's opinions and their views, you will tend to resolve conflicts even before they start. When you realise that everyone will not think like you, you will learn to accommodate more of their views and respect their opinions. You must not impose your views on someone and do not feel that your own methods are the best. Even if you want to press on your methods, it will do you well to also weigh other options - both their pros and cons, and also see things from other people's angle.

2. Ask questions, and don't assume

Assumption has been a major contributing factor to conflict. I remember a particular event that happened when I was in junior secondary. Two junior students were caught fighting. After they were separated, they were invited before the school authority with some selected students. When they were being asked what happened, the explanation made me to discover the dangers of assumption. Both of them were stammerers unknown to each other. So that day, as one talked to one in a stammering way, the other responded in the same stammering way. He then assumed that the other guy was mocking him, while the other guy assumed that the other guy was mocking him. That was how the fight started.

Instead of assuming, it is better to pause a while to ask questions even if you feel like acting on the assumption. More often than not, people are wrong about their assumptions, and some of them are without base because they are mostly built on emotions and sentiments. When you ask questions, you will understand better the reason behind a particular action instead of assuming in error, thereby avoiding conflicts to a considerable level.

_{Image from Pixabay}

3. Take responsibilities and don't blame others

It is true that people might err sometimes or might even take some actions that may present with a negative consequence. However, when you do, you should take full responsibilities for the actions and not give excuse nor blame someone else for the action. Blaming someone for an error you obviously did can lead to one thing - conflict. Instead of saying "you caused it" when you obviously know you did it, it will be better to say "I'm sorry for this, how can it be fixed?" The latter will show the person that you are taking full responsibilities for your actions and not trying to blame anyone.

More often than not, it may not be the actions themselves that normally cause the conflict but how people react to the actions. You may not be above mistakes, but after you have made the mistake, what happens next? You will be surprised that the things that cause conflict, most times, are things that can easily be avoided. So as you go out each day and as you interact and relate with people, try as much as is within your abilities to avoid conflict because there is no gain in it.

Thanks for reading