Think about all the times you felt angry today. Were you in traffic and someone using their phone cut you off? Did your teenager shout at you because you told them they couldn’t do something after school? How did you respond? Calmly or did you get defensive?

 

To gain a better understanding of some specific tools we can use to de-escalate tense situations and have better communication with our friends and loved ones, Positive Psychology Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with two legal professionals turned peacekeeping, conflict negotiators. The practice of Tai Chi helped Douglas Noll transform from lawyer to peacemaker. He explains a three-step process to peace, based on empathetic listening and emotional de-escalation from his book, De-Escalate: How to Calm an Angry Person in 90 Seconds or Less. Conflict resolution expert, Jim Tamm describes how to negotiate through conversations that are not easy to have and the reason people use defensiveness as a communication style from his book, Radical Collaboration.