4 seconds of silence

I often start communications workshops by telling people they have a lot more control over a situation than they think. 

You have a huge influence on others, just by the way you show up.

Aggression is usually met with aggression. 

Albert Schweitzer said, “Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” 

You can avoid triggering others with simple silence.

“You’re such a pain in the ass! You make me so angry!”

“Oh?” [silence]

It’s tempting to fire back, but if you just count to 4 before responding. Pause and you’ll both cool off a bit.