Politics:
How to Get Along with Republicans or Democrats When You Aren't One

Hale Dwoskin, featured teacher in the blockbuster book and film "The Secret" and author of The New York Times bestseller The Sedona Method, has revealed how to best get along with Republicans if you're a Democrat, and Democrats if you're a Republican, at the office and elsewhere.

More and more in the United States people seem divided along partisan lines, especially during an election year like this one. Under ideal circumstances this can spark a lively debate and maybe even an exchange of ideas, but if the differing of opinions happens in the office it can have a negative impact on professional relationships.

"Many people have strong political opinions and these opinions are often taken to heart and identified with as though our survival depends on others agreeing with us," says Hale Dwoskin, CEO and director of training of Sedona Training Associates.

In a personal setting, people can more easily shrug off such interactions and even choose to stop associating with the person who constantly bangs them over the head with their political opinions. Not so in the office, where people usually have no choice over who they associate with.

People also have no control over what other people say to them, but that doesn't mean they are helpless. The key to preserving professional relationship, and to maintaining their right to their own opinions, lies in controlling the emotions.

"The first thing to remember is that politics is not personal to you," Dwoskin says. "You can have strong political opinions and allow others to have their opinions as well as long as you remember that they are just points of view, not personal affronts to you. The more you can allow yourself to honor your own political beliefs and the beliefs of others, the more the political process can unfold naturally without having to cause strife at home or at work."

It's very important that people work to accept the others they work with, regardless of their political views. The more people can project acceptance onto them, the less they will resist their ideas in return. This means that people may be able to have a meeting of the minds, where everyone can accept each other's political views as they are.

For anyone having a hard time accepting other's political views, and not getting angry in response to them, The Sedona Method is a proven way to release and let go of these feelings.

"One of the best ways to release on politics is to let go of wanting to defend, justify, explain or prove your point of view," Dwoskin says. "This may be a stretch at first but if you are willing to do this you will find two things happening. First off you will relax inside and not feel like your survival depends on others agreeing with you. You will also find that people are much more open to hearing what you have to say."

And it's in open environments like this that the best work relationships are truly forged. In time, people may even find that their once heated political "arguments" turn into discussions focused on positive change.

And in an election year where the word "change" is thrown so loosely around, that would be a refreshing real change.