Win/Win

I'm trying to develop my win/win outlook. I'm not very good at it. I've been "trained" for forty odd years to be competitive and to win if at all possible. So these changes are not easy for me.

I haven't always had good relations with other people. I've tended to get irritated whenever things didn't go my way. But, over the last ten months, I've been working with journals and it's had a staggering impact on my dealings with other people.

Not everyone likes it, of course. The beauty of dealing with an angry person is that you can ignore him/her. You don't have to take any notice of him. You can ignore him because it's just temper talking.

When the temper goes away, you suddenly realise that what he was saying actually made sense and you were ignoring it because of the way it was presented. The result is that people suddenly become afraid. The truth is, we are all afraid of control. We are so aware of how little control we have over ourselves that we get worried when we meet someone with more control over themselves than we have, especially if that person used to have a bad temper and we are used to ignoring him or her.

And that's what I get from blogging, or, at least, from keeping a journal. It gives me a place to rant and rave and shout and scream and jump up and down so that, when I face the cause of my frustration, I can be calm and tactful and at peace.

After all, why let others steal your dignity?