Voices In My Head - Art Of War - Marriage

One of the greatest books ever written about military strategy was by a man named Sun Tzu called The Art of War. This book is considered the bible of battle tactics to many military folks, but I have found it just as useful in my own battlefield, my living room. Let me walk you through a few examples.

A wonderful quote from Sun Tzu found in the book is "So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will win hundred times in hundred battles. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you win one and lose the next. If you do not know yourself or your enemy, you will always lose."

I'm not sure what this means during a military campaign Art but what it means in my house is that you better know what your wife is driving at when you get home from work and she immediately asks you where you went for lunch. At this point you have either spent too much money on lunch and she already checked the bank account online, eaten somewhere that she's been asking you to take her, eaten with someone she doesn't like or all of the above. As Sun Tzu tells us you must know which of these traps your wife has most likely set and be able to use your strengths to come up with a quick excuse. Above all don't lie. If she's asking where you went for lunch she already knows!

Another section of the book that obviously applies to marriage goes like this, "All warfare is based on deception. If your enemy is superior, evade him. If angry, irritate him. If equally matched, fight and if not: split and re-evaluate".

Evade a superior enemy. I do this one on a weekly basis. During the week if I've screwed up and I know it I evade my wife constantly. I've been known to take three hours just to bring the trash down to the garage. One time I bought a new cordless drill on the credit card and knew she was going to flip because it was so expensive. I actually drove home from work at lunch every day just to check the mail and get the credit card statement before her.

"If angry, irritate". This is genius. I've only tried this once because it's a risky venture. The next time your spouse is upset with you try adding just a little gas to the fire. It knocks them off balance and they lose their train of thought. They may end up throwing a lamp or other heavy object your way so be prepared to side step.

Source : ezinearticles