Saturday, March 10, 2007

A warning system

Today's Quote from A Fancy Word for Simple:

When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear. Mark Twain

I have to admit that I am a slow simmer-er when it comes to anger. I very rarely "flash" hot, but rather is creeps up on me slowly -- and it goes away slowly. It can mean I am prone to grudges. It also means that once someone has roused me to anger, they'd do best to steer clear of me for a while. Anger is a valuable warning system for me. It tells me that something in my universe is not going as I had expected. Sometimes, that means I need to modify my expectations. Others, it means I need to modify my universe. It takes some calm, focused time (i.e. not in the heat of anger) to sort out which one of those conditions applies.

5 comments:

Paula J Atkinson said...

I have gone through life accused of having a temper, merely because of the colour of my hair.
Yes, Im a red head, but I inherited that from two sides of the family, it doesn't dictate my personality.
Me, if angered enough will burst into tears. It takes torrents of abuse to stand up & scream back.
I seeth & bear a grudge but always forgive to a point!!!

Mel said...

Welllllllll, I've been known to take a walk around the building to buy time so I'm not popping off. I've gotten much more disciplined with that.
But I'm finding myself rarely, rarely angry nowadays.

I CAN talk go on like a drunken sailor if I hit one of 'those' moments...but it's been a long, longgggggggggg time since I've been 'that' angry. And once I pop off, I'm done and moving on.

Gosh--does that mean I'm losing my touch? LOL

Barb said...

I am not a simmer-er. The longer it simmers, the madder I get!

Debra said...

have always bean afraid of anger.... conflict upsets me but
that quote reminds me of what my daughter said the other day... I said " count to tenif you are angry "... Arabella said " I have counted to ten and I am still angry " :)

Anonymous said...

You know I have a total gutter mouth and pepper casual conversation with "colorful" language - so it's not really a tool of anger for me. However, I can be quick to anger...will stew and keep the flame alive...and can carry a grudge. You didn't know I was so versatile didja? ;-) Oh yeah, and tears can come with the territory if I'm frustrated/angry. {heavy sigh}g