Real Modern Man

Handling relationship crises requires emotional strength. Many times, relationship crises result from a man's inability or ignorance to properly respond to the woman's emotional desires. Often, the man caves in, or "collapses" as his heart softens to her pleas of emotional distress and conspires with his inability to lead her emotions away from self-destructive energy. Or, the man may harden his heart, lashing out in frustration with truly damaging. A better way is being strong hearted, allowing her self-destructive emotional energy to dissipate against a masculine strength, where a man's heart is exposed and vulnerable, yet strong enough to deal with any fury she sends his way.

Soft hearted

You are not doing a woman a favor by being "soft-hearted." By giving in to a tantrum, sulking, pouting or any other sort of "bad behavior," you enable a woman to emotionally manipulate you. This not good for you, and it is not good for her. "Soft-heartedness" is usually a frame coming from weakness. The time and place for soft-heartedness is in empathy, when you share sad and hurtful emotions with her.

Hard hearted

Neither is it good to be hard-hearted. The hard-hearted man emotionally divorces himself from empathy. The hard hearted man will add insult to injury, neither knowing nor caring about the emotional consequences.

Strong hearted

Vitality is being strong-hearted. Strength of heart is hardness, but a hardness based in love. A hardness acknowledging her emotional pain, not judging her for it. Strength of heart is being willing to carry through pain until resolution is achieved.

Strike the balance

There may be times when each of these emotional states are appropriate. Some women may require hardness over strength. Other women, of gentler disposition, may require very little in the way of hardness, and need only the occasional reassurance of masculine strength in the relationship.