Repair & Conflict
Receiving an apology is a skill and most people fumble it
Whole repairs collapse at the moment of acceptance, when the wronged person says it is fine, brings up something else, or accepts…
Repair & Conflict
Falling out, apologising properly, and the difference between the two.
21 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 2 of 2
Repair & Conflict
Some conversations go better in writing and some are ruined by it
The channel is not a detail. Writing gives you precision and no tone; speaking gives you tone and no editing, and picking the wrong…
Repair & Conflict
A grievance rehearsed for months comes out at the wrong size
Something small gets stored, replayed and refined until it is a case. By the time it is finally raised, the other person is hearing…
Repair & Conflict
Defensiveness is a reflex, and there is a way around it
It is not a character flaw and it is not evidence of guilt. It is a fast response to feeling accused, and almost every technique…
Repair & Conflict
When you cannot undo the harm, what repair can still offer
Some things cannot be given back: a missed funeral, a broken confidence, years of absence. Repair in those cases is not…
Repair & Conflict
Repair with a parent runs on a different clock
Apologising to a friend and apologising to a parent are not the same procedure. One relationship can be left; the other has decades…
Repair & Conflict
One of you wants to talk it out and the other wants it dropped
The argument about how to handle the argument is usually worse than the original disagreement. Neither approach is wrong, and the…
Repair & Conflict
An argument with an audience is a different argument
The same disagreement conducted in front of other people follows different rules. Positions harden, concessions become expensive…
Repair & Conflict
When you cannot repair it and still have to see them every week
Colleagues, relatives and members of the same small group do not get to walk away from each other. Coexistence is a skill with its…