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Practically all of us have a friend, colleague, client, customer or family member we aren\\u2019t getting along with very well. Perhaps the difficult person in your life is excessively critical of you, complains constantly, won\\u2019t express his or her feelings, always has to be right, or never listens to you. Does anyone come to mind?

In this podcast, David and Fabrice discuss five communication secrets that can rapidly transform conflict and misunderstanding into intimacy and trust. David describes an experience that suddenly changed the direction of his life and career when he was working with an insecure medical student from England early in his career. The Five Secrets of Effective Communication\\xa0can be remembered\\xa0using the acronym, EAR:

E = Empathy

• The Disarming Technique: You find truth in what the other person is saying, even if it seems illogical, self-serving, distorted, or just plain \\u201cwrong.\\u201d
• Thought and Feeling Empathy: You summarize what the other person just said (Thought Empathy) and acknowledge how he or she is probably feeling, given what he or she just said (Feeling Empathy)
• Inquiry: You as gentle, probing questions to learn more about what the other person is thinking and feeling.

A = Assertiveness

• \\u201cI Feel\\u201d Statements: You express your own feelings and ideas openly according to the formula, \\u201cI\\u2019m feeling X, Y, and Z right now,\\u201d where are X, Y and Z refer to any of a wide variety of feeling words, such as anxious, attacked, hurt, or sad.

R = Respect

• Affirmation (formerly called Stroking): You convey warmth, caring and respect, even in the heat of battle

David and Fabrice also describe the Five Secrets of Effective Communication and emphasize the incredible power of the Law of Opposites, with a vignette about a severely depressed patient who told David that he was \\u201ctoo young to be my doctor.\\u201d