This week’s conflict resolution tip is about the importance of taking care of yourself.
Self-care is extremely important for effective conflict resolution. It is difficult to have a sense of internal peace when we’re not actively taking care of ourselves. Further, when we do not have a balanced sense of inner peace, it is difficult to attain external peace.
The question is – how can we cultivate inner peace? The secret is practicing self-care. Incorporating physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual practices into your daily routines can lead to greater internal peace. Doing this requires asking yourself some questions, like: How much sleep do I need on a regular basis? What does work-life balance look like for me? What do diet and exercise look like when it comes to self-care? What mindfulness or spiritual practices bring meaning to my life?
Checking in with yourself across these different dimensions of self-care and even grading yourself on how you’re keeping up with them can help you cultivate inner peace. So, if you notice that you are not in a place of mental-emotional-physical balance – if you are constantly stressed, exhausted, hungry, tired, etc., you’re not going to be in a good space to have difficult conversations with people. You’ll likely be way more defensive, volatile, or sensitive, and you’ll create conflict.
If you want to bring more peace into your life, start by forming a regimen of self-care that will lead you to greater inner peace and by extension, greater bandwidth for dealing with everyday conflict.
