I think it is essential in any relationship to attempt to see things the way your girlfriend does. Women and men are motivated differently because they are put together differently. Of course, even if you do this, there is always the possibility that your significant other is an airhead. If your GF is capable of trying to see things your way as well, you will both be happier.
My friend Lin is a Taiwanese professor with an EdD degree. About seven years ago, he told me that he met Mrs Right, a mainland Chinese woman with some sort of practical nursing degree. He asked me if I thought he should get married, and I told him that if he had to ask ME, the answer was obviously no. But they did get married and have two kids. Lin's father was some sort of officer in Chiang's ROC Army. His mother was a fishwife from the Pescadores Islands. Lin is the oldest of six children and the only one who had not had kids. Mrs Lin, a mainlander, is and only child, used to getting her way. Mrs Lin seems to be a very caring wife: she gets up early, fixes breakfast, packs a lunch and takes care of the kids and does all the housework. I have lived with a number of women and none of them did all that. So the other day, Mrs Lin suggests that she wants to start a vegetable garden in the back yard. Lin says no, because they already have six fruit trees. She insists, he tells her to leave if she doesn't like living with him. I think he may have pushed her out. Anyway, they are fighting on the porch. Some neighbor comes by and listens to them fighting. Of course, they are fighting in Mandarin and he is some sort of Latino. So Lin says "we are fighting, please don't call the police".
Naturally, the police are called and one of Palm Beach County's finest appears, a rookie cop from Ecuador, who orders Lin to empty his pockets and put his wallet and watch and keys on the trunk lid. Lin keeps telling him that no blows were exchanged, no one is guilty of anything. Mrs Lin also begs the cop to leave them alone, and then runs in the house when one of the kids calls her. The cop cuffs Lin, stuffs him in the car, leaving the stuff on the trunk. Lin says, my wallet and watch are on the trunk. The cop replies that Mrs Lin (who is now inside) will pick it all up and drives off, where Lin spends the night in the jail as the only Asian in the place. Eventually, someone finds Lins drivers license and returns it. All the other stuff has gone to the Place of Lost Socks.
Lin is accused of battery, I suppose because the witness thought he saw Lin hit the wife, or perhaps just because it was his first domestic dispute and he did not want to return from the hunt without a trophy. Lin asks me and I tell him that he has been a dick, since what possible harm could his wife do digging a garden with the kids? Hell, Michelle Obama made a garden. I also tell him that he probably should get a lawyer, since no one connected with education in FL is allowed to teach if they have a criminal record. Naturally, he contacts some 700 HP lawyer representing some socialite who got bombed and killed some other driver with his Bentley. So now he has paid $2500. Why? Because he did not (a) think things through logically and (b) decided to fight with his wife outside the front door.
I suspect that Lin will managed to get his record wiped clean. I also imagine that the $2500 was just a down payment. I do not trust lawyers, but I trust the cops even less.
Of course, the solution is to keep your cool and fight only in private.