How to Deal With Argumentative Colleagues

Found this on eHow: How to Deal With Argumentative Colleagues eHow.com
Some people are just naturally argumentative. You say black and they say white. You say go and they say stop. Dealing with argumentative colleagues is frustrating and can affect your work. There are many effective ways to cope with argumentative colleagues without becoming argumentative yourself.

Step 1:
Stay calm. Don't get drawn into the argument by getting worked up. Staying calm will also help you think and speak clearly.
Step 2:
Listen intently. Tune out the argumentative words and focus on the point your colleague is trying to make.
Step 3:
Keep it professional. This is your work environment. Keep your statements and behavior professional, even if your colleague isn't.
Step 4:
Think carefully before you speak. This will help to prevent the argument from getting personal and help make certain that you state your point clearly.
Step 5:
Speak in a calm and composed manner. This ensures that you will not compound the argument by your tone of voice or body language. Argumentative people often feed off the person with which they are arguing. If you speak in a calm and composed manner, maybe she will as well.
Step 6:
Know when to walk away. If the discussion is getting nowhere, walk away and revisit the issue later.

Interesting Moral Story

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning, while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hang the wash outside. That laundry is not very clean, she said, she doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap. Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbour would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look! She has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this." The husband said: "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows!"

And so it is with life: "What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look. Before we give any criticism, it might be a good idea to check our state of mind and ask ourselves if we are ready to see the good rather than to be looking for something in the person we are about to judge. "

Getting Along With Others

Found few inspiring insights from the writings of the great Guru Paramahansa Yogananda; thought it would be a great start to the blog. He wrote the following about getting along with others.

The greatest of all happiness, next to divine happiness, is to be at peace with one's immediate relations, those with whom one must live every day in the year. When people try to handle the extremely complicated machinery of human feelings without any training whatsoever, the consequent results are often disastrous. Very few persons realize that most of our happiness lies in the art of understanding the law of human behavior. That is why so many people are often "in hot water" with their friends, and, worse yet, at constant war with their own best beloved ones at home.

The basic law of right human behavior is self-reform....Whenever any trouble occurs with our friends or dear ones, we should inwardly lay the blame on ourselves for getting into an unpleasant situation and then try to get out of it as fast and as graciously as we can. It is fruitless to increase the trouble by loudly, unkindly, discourteously blaming others, even though we find that they are to blame. We can teach quick-tempered dear ones to mend their faults a hundred times better by setting a good example than we can by harsh or self-righteous words.

Something to dwell upon, isnt it?

Relationships - Tough, aren't they?

We may love them or we may hate them, but we just cannot ignore them. Our relationships are as much a part of our existence as perhaps mother nature. Keeping them nurtured is probably never easy, but we still need to, to be able to lead a normal happy life.

Be it with parents, friends, spouse, siblings or colleagues, we have our share of great times, good times, bad times and sometimes really testing times! Sigh..what can be done about it, thats just how life is.

A husband and wife love to spend time with each other, but also need their individual space. A mother strives to make her kid independent, but when he or she does, feels left out. An employer wants to be friends with his or her employees, but only to a certain extent, so that his authority is not compromised. Any of this sound familiar?

Lets come together in handling these tough but beautiful gifts of God. Surely, you have some good memories spent with your loved ones that you may want to share with others. Or you may be stuck in some tough spot you want to get out of and discuss with others in similar situations. Yet again, you may have resolved some relationship problems and may have tips to help others resolve theirs.

You are welcome to comment on a post, or write a post yourself. Just send me a message if you wish to post for my blog.

Come, share with us.. !