needs merge

a merge results in multiple conflict files.

some of the files are resolved by editing and picking changes from both branches.

but some files I want to ignore the new changes and keep what was originally there.
However, if I restore what was originally in the destination
either by editing the destination and ending up with what i started with,
or via git checkout on the file, i get

$ git commit
my-file needs merge

how do i tell git that there is no merge to do and the (unchanged) working file is what
i want to keep as the result of the merge?

i recall running into this a long time ago and i added blank line to the destination file
and that made git happy, but maybe i shouldn't have to resort to that, yes?

thanks,
-Len