Welcome to episode 226 of Live Happy Now. I'm your host, Paula Phelps, thanking you for joining us.

If you think that conflict is always bad for your relationship, think again. Today, we're talking

with Chris Marie Campbell and Susan Clark, who are life partners, therapists, and authors of the new

book, The Beauty of Conflict for

couples.

They've helped hundreds of couples reconcile their differences and get their relationships

back on track, but they say it's not about romance.

Instead, they teach couples that the things we argue about often have the potential to pave

the way to greater intimacy if we learn how to use it properly.

They sat down with me to explain more about how we can all learn to deal with conflict in a relationship and

use it to build a stronger, healthier bond. Well, Susan and Chris Marie, welcome to the show. This is

going to be a lot of fun. I'm really excited to talk to you today. We're excited to be here. So looking forward to it.

Well, this book is really upending some long-held beliefs about relationships. So I wanted to know,

first of all, how you came to write this book. That is a good question. This is Chris Marie.

We have been in relationship. We've worked

in, been life partners for 20 years. And when I first met Susan, she was, I saw her deal with a bully

in, in a group setting. And I was just like, I want to learn how she did it in a way that

really worked. And I came from a

background where, oh my gosh, my dad was very angry. And so I was always, my job was to make

everything smooth. And the way I saw Susan show up with energy, but effectiveness, I thought,

this is really cool. I want to learn how to do this.

And it really transformed the dynamics of that situation.

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