Practice
Before a hard conversation
Five minutes of preparation that make a difficult conversation go better.
5 minSource: Narrated

Get clear first
Write one sentence: what you actually want out of this conversation. Not what you want to say, but what you want to be true afterwards.
Write the one thing you do not want to lose your temper about. Naming it in advance makes it easier to spot coming.
Decide what you will do if it goes badly, so that outcome is not a surprise.
Then settle
Two minutes of longer out-breaths before you go in.
Slower speech than feels natural. It reads as calm and it gives you time to think.
Lowering the daily stress load protects the brain and heart as much as it changes how today feels.
General information, not medical advice. Narrated never diagnoses.
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