I am not a huge fan of conflict.  Or let me say that historically I have not been a huge fan of conflict.  It is just a story that I told myself that conflict was bad and avoiding conflict was good.  Absurd.  Thankfully I managed to shake that childhood baggage with a fresh look on conflict introduced to me by Vince Corsaro.  Basically he makes conflict less about emotion and more about a process.  Through a structured format, conflict becomes an opportunity to learn together, rather than an unnecessary escalation.  It has worked beautifully for me on so many occasions.  In fact, in some cases, I will tell the other person that I'm going to use this process so that we can do it together.  Remember, both sides generally dislike conflict so why not make it a positive experience for everyone.  Here is a link to the worksheet that I use and an image of it in this post.  Let me know how it worked for you.  I'd love for you to share your experience.