We all have some. Anxiety is the low-level, background tension that interrupts sleep at the smell of smoke or the sound of a baby crying. It’s the almost-unnoticed pressure that sparks a yelp! when something startles you.

Everyone has anxiety. It’s the pressure that fills the balloon. It’s the tension that keeps us alert and reactive, aware and engaged. But like the air that fills that balloon, anxiety can become too much, the pressure too high, to the point that all it takes is a pin-prick to explode. Here are three rules to help let the air out of the balloon.

I’d be glad to fill your head with silver-lining ideas about how a virus spreading across the globe is killing hundreds of thousands, destroying economies, forcing incalculable debt upon our children and their children, fueling racism, and locking down borders is a good opportunity for family time. But let’s not talk about those things. Let’s talk about your kids.

You aren’t a bad person. You didn’t commit crimes in a previous life. And your karma isn’t out of whack. Then why did this happen? How did you get into a relationship with someone who is manipulative, controlling, willing to use the kids to try to hurt you and all is around mean?

Do you feel like your children are *missing out* by not spending time with both their parents on Christmas Day? Have your children become a pawn in your ongoing parental conflict and Christmas is just another example of that?

Mediation with one or more parties with a high conflict personality requires a significantly different approach from the standard “interest-based” model that has led the field of mediation over the past 35 years.

How to get off the emotional roller coaster and understand triggers and resulting response patterns so you can reclaim your life. Megan Hunter and Andrea LaRochelle discuss The High-Conflict Co-Parenting Survival Guide

Some workplace disputes get resolved rather easily by those involved or by simple management interventions. Other disputes are more difficult and mediation is becoming an appealing method for resolving such disputes […] In these situations, more steps may need to be involved…