Investing When Others Run Away

If you want to freak out an enemy in your life, follow today’s tip.  Whether it’s someone that you are consistently at odds with or simply someone who posts a rude comment on social media, showing kindness and making an investment in someone when conflict brews will certainly surprise them.

As humans, we are biologically programmed, like all animals, to live by the law of reciprocity.  This means that we reciprocate or reflect, like a mirror, the same behavior that others use toward us.  We are so used to reciprocity that when someone responds differently, it catches them off-guard.  Whether your difficult person is a challenging co-worker or perhaps even a teenager in your house, making an investment at the most inopportune time can work wonders for your relationship and lay the foundation for building peace between you.

The next time you want to fight, flee, or freeze, take a deep breath and listen instead.  Unless you’re in physical danger, you might as well stay calm, demonstrate emotional resilience, and try to work through whatever conflict exists.  We’ve all had times when we really needed someone to hear us and invest in us while we were being incredibly difficult.  Give that gift of grace and mercy to someone else and see how it changes your relationship.

Love is patient
Love is kind