Tempers -

Thankfully I haven't lost mine lately - but there are times when I have to count to 10, take deep breaths, and make a conscious decision not to engage in whatever event is causing me to be ready to let loose.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has to walk away from "testy" encounters, has to shake my head at some idiocy, walk away from a short/sharp clerk, look into the eyes of someone who hasn't a clue what they're doing, and "hold" my angst until the episode is over.

There are times I do let go - and typically they are with Scott, or about a loved one. Typically my anger lasts about 2 minutes, and that's the same for Scott. We then begin our "make up" with, "Can we start the day over?" And just like that, water under the bridge, bygones are bygones, we don't rehash or revisit. We move forward.

I was talking with a dear friend on Monday. She had gone to a lecture, and the person shared a phrase with her about Temper and Anger.

"Tempers are typically lost due to unmet expectations."

Pretty powerful, if you ask me. And as I look at my times of getting red-faced, that's true. The guy cuts me off on the freeway, my order at the restaurant is wrong, a child shows up late for dinner, a wrong item is purchased at the grocery store - even these little things, that are just enough to give me a temper-buzz are unmet expectations!

Oh, I wonder who I would be now, if I had figured this out much earlier in my life!

What makes you mad? How do you respond, how do you remove, how do you resolve?