Relationships of any depth and any magnitude are going to hit up against conflict.  It is just the nature of being close to someone.  You are going to have differences that emerge.  It is not a  question of if, but when those differences appear.  And then there is another question:  how do you deal with the conflict?  Does it serve to push you apart or does it pull you together?

In marriage, you are tying your life to the life of a spouse.  That intensifies the potential for conflict, and the importance of that conflict.  If someone else’s life has no real bearing on mine, I can disregard and ignore our differences… and we can even go our separate ways.

But in marriage, you pledge to move through those tough times, to find a way that works for both of you.  And that raises the potential for the conflict.

For many couples, conflict only serves to divide and separate, not strengthen and pull together.  Which means that an opportunity has been missed.  A bridge has been lost.

On this episode of the Save The Marriage Podcast, my guest is Mari Frank.  What makes Mari’s outlook interesting is that she is an attorney.  A divorce attorney.  Not one who likes to take relationships apart, but an attorney who sees the sadness of relationships that could survive, that still have potential… where the spouses can’t see a way through their conflict.

After Mari watched marriages ending unnecessarily, she decided to do something.  She used the skills developed over the years of navigating negotiation and mediation to help couples get below their surface issues and resolve their deeper conflicts.

And she realized that couples could do this before they landed in her office!  Before their marriage was in jeopardy!  Not only that, the conflict actually created a path to intimacy, if the couple followed it.

This led to her book, Fighting for Love. And in this episode of the podcast, it leads to our discussion of how conflict can be turned into intimacy

Listen in as Mari and I discuss the 6 A’s To A Long Relationship, and how to use HARD LOVE to get out of conflict.

RELATED RESOURCES
Mari’s Website for Extra Resources
The Role of Conflict
Fighting Versus Solving
Surviving Conflict 
Fragile Marriage?
Save The Marriage System