The level of stress and conflict in today's world is higher than seen in decades. We all can use tools for managing the emotions this has caused. At the same time, there also appear to be more high conflict people who are preoccupied with blaming others and verbally venting or attacking those around them. Yet, these upset emotions and conflicts can often be calmed immediately through the use of a simple EAR Statement(TM), a method of verbal communication developed and refined by Bill Eddy of the High Conflict Institute over the past fifteen years and taught to hundreds of thousands of professionals and individuals. Following on the success of his widely-known BIFF Response(R) method and book series on written communication, this new book will come in handy when interacting in-person in all kinds of upset situations: family conflicts, workplace disputes, neighbor controversies, angry customers, clients and patients; and any other setting. A simple statement communicating empathy, attention and/or respect to an angry, sad, mentally ill, or other upset person at any time can work wonders in minutes. Yet it's not as easy as it looks. It takes practice and this book gives over twenty examples of applying this method in families, communities, customer relations, volunteer organizations, public service, politics, business, police encounters, racial conflicts, schools, mental health settings, and others.

Empathy, attention and respect are what all people are looking for, especially when upset or in a conflict. This book will give you the details of how to calm upset people with EAR every day. Words matter.