This is Dr. Lisa Marie Bavi, and you're listening to the Love, Happiness, and Success Podcast.

Have you ever wondered why seemingly small conflicts with your partner can suddenly escalate into big, really nasty fights?

If you're like most couples, one of the usual suspects is a cycle of criticism and defensiveness.

Today, we're talking about how you can disrupt that cycle, put defensiveness to rest,

stop fighting, and start having the kinds of constructive conversations that help your relationship grow.

As I was putting together today's show for you, I was thinking about, okay, what song would capture

the energy of somebody just being ready to go there, turn it to a fight,

not back and down, getting defensive. And so, yes, we are currently listening to the cramps.

This is their song, sunglasses after dark from their 1980 album Songs the Lord taught us. So much good stuff in here.

Worth, worth checking out classics for sure. And hopefully, you know, can put us all back in that

space, right? We have just had a very well-intentioned, you know, situation. We're trying to

communicate. Seems like it's going well. And then all

of a sudden, it has taken a sharp right. And we are now in the midst of a fight. There is

defensiveness. It's getting escalated. And this is kind of what it feels like. So on today's

show, we are going to be talking about this communication pattern, really,

and how it plagues so many relationships.

I mean, really, I think most relationships are quite vulnerable to this dynamic.

But although it can be difficult to solve and get out of this cycle,

if you don't understand what's going on,

it can actually be quite easy to diffuse defensiveness and have a very different experience with

your partner once you kind of understand what's happening under the surface. And so that's what

we're going to be talking about today. And so, you know, just to dive

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