How to Respond to an Accusation

I recently received a question from a student in my course “Become a Master at Conflict Management at Home or Work.” She asked, “How can I prevent my ego from getting in the way when my husband attacks me at the start of our conversation?” She went on to tell me that he snapped at her out of the blue. She tried to avoid being defensive but was unsuccessful. Although she tried listening later in the conversation, the damage had been done and the tone between them is now tense.

This was a good qu...