How to Have That Difficult Conversation You've Been Avoiding: With Your Spouse, Adult Child, Boss, Coworker, Best Friend, Parent, or Someone You're Dating

This is a practical handbook on positive confrontation, now available in soft cover with a discussion guide. Successful people confront well. They know that setting healthy boundaries improves relationships and can solve important problems. They have discovered that uncomfortable situations can be avoided or resolved through direct conversation. But most of us don't know how to have difficult conversations, and see confrontation as scary or adversarial. Authors Henry Cloud and John Townsend take the principles from their bestselling book, "Boundaries", and apply them to a variety of the most common difficult situations and relationships in order to: Show how healthy confrontation can improve relationships; Present the essentials of a good boundary-setting conversation; Provide tips on preparing for the conversation; Show how to tell people what you want, stop bad behavior, and deal with counterattack; and Give actual examples of conversations to have with your spouse, your date, your kids, your coworker, your parents, and more!

Table of Contents:
Contents Confident Confrontations 9 Part I Why You Need to Have That Difficult Conversation 1 The Talk Can Change Your Life 15 2 The Benefits of a Good Conversation 20 Part II The Essentials of a Good Conversation 3 Be Emotionally Present 35 4 Be Clear about You" and I".38 5 Clarify the Problem 41 6 Balance Grace and Truth 44 7 Stay on Task 47 8 Use the Formula, When You Do A," I Feel B" 51 9 Affirm and Validate 54 10 Apologize for Your Part in the Problem 59 11 Avoid Shoulds" 62 12 Be an Agent for Change 66 13 Be Specific 70 14 Differentiate between Forgiving and Trusting 74 Part III Seeing How It's Done 15 Telling People What You Want 81 16 Making Someone Aware of a Problem 103 17 Stopping a Behavior 126 18 Dealing with Blame, Counterattack, and Other Problems 157 Part IV Getting Yourself Ready to Have the Conversation 19 Why You Need to Be Ready 183 20 How to Get Ready 188 Part V Having the Difficult Conversation with People in Your Life 21 With Your Spouse 207 22 With Someone You're Dating 219 23 With Your Child 232 24 With Your Parent 243 25 With Adult Children 256 26 At Work 264 27 With People in Authority 276 Speaking the Truth in Love 287 Small Group Dicussion Guide 291

About the Author :
Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend are popular speakers, and co-hosts of the nationally broadcast New Life Live! Radio program, and co-founders of Cloud-Townsend Clinic and Cloud-Townsend Resources. Their best-selling books include the Gold Medallion Award-winning Boundaries.