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Mother said
- "Before you lose your temper - count to ten" - Well
mathematics is certainly interesting but will counting to ten actually
help me when some complete idiot has just cut me up on the motorway
and my instinctive reaction is to give him a two fingered salute
and then drive my car into his, forcing him to skid off of the
road and crash and burn to death whilst I watch and laugh...
OK, before the nice men in the white coats come and put me in a room with soft
walls and wrap-around clothing (A Straight-Jacket) perhaps I should explain that
generally the two-fingered salute is more than enough to calm me down - but there
are times when - IN MY IMAGINATION - I do far worse things...
So, back to mathematics (Which for some odd reason in my mind I always pronounce
math-e-matics though in speech I say math-matics) - Does counting to ten help?
Here comes an answer to confuse...
The good news...
Yes it helps, it gives you time for your cognitive mind (the intelligent you)
to take over control from your reptilian mind (the primitive you).
The bad news...
It causes problems, by suppressing your hostility you cause unnecessary stress
which can possibly lead to ill health.
So what's my advice (After all, I'm the expert) - My advice is that it is a good
thing to do, if you can transcend the practice... You start by counting to ten
deliberately, and by repeating this process often enough it eventually becomes
something that you do by habit. Now this is the important bit - if you are lucky
the 'habit' becomes ingrained and unconscious to such an extent that the stimulus
(In this example being cut up by a motorist) ceases to have any aggravating effect
on you.
In my case, I treat driving as a game. I award myself points for avoiding bad
drivers and even when I have to take somewhat drastic action when avoiding a
complete loon (and there are a lot of them on the roads) I just smile and award
myself extra bonus points...
Do I always take things in good humour... Well, NO, not always but that's OK...
the ability to choose things that are not your 'best option' is part of the human
condition.
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