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As unique individuals, it is illogical to believe that we will get along with or even like everyone we meet. While there is nothing wrong with disliking someone, when that dislike affects your ability to perform in your job, school, or everyday life, it becomes a problem. It is how we overcome these problems that really give insight to our true characters. Should we simply ignore this person, confront this person, or simply avoid them? Truly the best solution is to try and curtail those negative feelings. While it may not be possible to have a complete change of heart about someone, it is possible to at least improve your relationship. By using the silver lining and information method, you have two good tools to help repair these situations.

A quick and effective way to improve most situations, is the silver lining method. If you tell yourself that you will find ways to like someone, you have a good chance of actually doing it because often just telling yourself that you will do something, is enough motivation to actually do it. To do this, put a positive spin on every bad quality that you notice about the person. For example: "I really dislike Mary because she always interrupts other people's conversations, however, I admire the confidence she has in herself to do so." Another way to be positive about a situation is to tell yourself that there are other things that are more important to you than your dislike for the other person. For example: "Dan really gets on my nerves but I really like this job and my other co-workers, so I am not going to let my dislike for him, created any tension in my workplace."

Another way to improve on a situation is to use the information method. By finding out more about the person you dislike, you will be better able to understand who they are and have better insight into their thinking process. You never know if there is a reason that they do that certain something that drives you crazy. For example, a friend of mine started a new job and greatly disliked this older lady she worked with. Her reasons? The lady almost never made eye contact with her and seemed to avoid her as much as possible. My friend felt like the lady looked down on her. It wasn't until the lady confessed that my friend reminded her of her recently deceased daughter, that my friend understood the lady's natural hesitance to be around her.

While there is no guarantee that you can change the way your feel about someone, these two methods can go a long way toward repairing or improving relationships. You never know how much you can have in common with someone until you make the effort to get to know them. Also, putting a positive spin on things can help in all areas of your life, and especially when put into a situation where you are in close contact with someone you dislike.

Learn more about this author, Lindsey Stell.
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