The advice in here might very well be of the "it seems obvious once you've read it" kind, but I think it's still useful
The problem is not that people don't know what to do. Just recently, I heard a similar difficulty of esports players: They know what to do - farm gold regularly, kill enemies, keep map awareness etc., whatever. It is just in the moment that the right action is elusive.
"Why didn't you retreat when you were low on health?"
"I knew I was low on health and had to retreat! But I thought the way to retreat was left (where more trouble turned up) and not right."
Feel free to take that as a metaphor for relationships if you want XD.
That's why I like the section about the Freakout Tree so much: It describes a common conflict pattern and provides a resolution approach worth imitating.
Explicitly asking “Hey, can I have the tree?” has saved our bacon more than once.
The Ferrett isn't an official member of the Rationalist Diaspora, but he's been blogging for longer than LessWrong has existed and often has useful insights that align with what the LessWrong community likes to talk and think about, and when I find one, I link to it. The advice in here might very well be of the "it seems obvious once you've read it" kind, but I think it's still useful - he's learned a lot of things about relationships the hard way, and when you get the chance, it's better to learn from other people's experience so you can avoid having to learn things the hard way too.
A short excerpt: