A TEMPERATE RESPONSE

Nutritious food for lunch - “Learning acquired in youth arrests the evil of old age; and if you understand that old age has wisdom for its food, you will so conduct yourself in youth that your old age will not lack for nourishment.”

A young girl came into the house with a tear in her pants. Her mother was exasperated, as this had happened too many times before. At her wits end, she said to her daughter, "Now you go into your room, take off those pants, and sew up that tear!" The poor child had never held a needle in her life!

A little while later her mother saw the pants crumpled on the floor of her daughter's bedroom -- still torn. She looked around and...no little girl. Spying the basement light on, she called down the
stairs, "Are you down there running around with your pants off?"

A big voice boomed up, "No ma'am. I'm reading the gas meter."

Thomas Jefferson once advised, "When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, count to 100."

Another way to say it is like this: When angry, slow down. Slow down and think. Slow down and calm down. A later response will be a more tempered response and usually a better one. Slow down and get some distance from the provoking incident. You'll see it more for what it is, and you'll often see that it never deserved your ire. Slow down and consider your best response.

On the other hand, don't forever hold it in. For anger does more damage to the vessel in which it is stored than the object on which it is poured. Uncontrolled rage will mostly hurt you. Slow down before you let it out. But after you let it out, be sure to let it go.

And when you express your anger, keep your temper -- no one else wants it. Untold relationships, otherwise beautiful and full of promise, are ruined by rage. Countless careers and lives are brought down by harsh and thoughtless words.

Mahatma Gandhi had this motto on his wall at Sevagram:
"When you are in the right,
You can afford to keep your temper;
When you are in the wrong,
You can't afford to lose it."

Slow down -- and temper your anger with understanding.

Slow down -- and temper your ire with compassion.

Slow down -- and temper...your temper.

You'll be glad you did.

From Lifesupport.

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