Naked Man Moleskin

Slow to anger. I really need this – to do this. And to practice being slow to anger. My dog had diarrhea last night.. so every 2 hours the whining to be let out. And since she’s still a puppy, I go out with her. The other day she was extremely nippy, disobedient, and getting into everything she’s not supposed to. I was really, really angry and my kids noticed. My daughter even told me that my TNT line is too short.

I of course was confused. She explained we all have TNT, sometimes it’s a lot, other times small. But it’s always there. And there’s a line of powder that runs from this TNT. That line can be lit on fire, and obviously the shorter the line, the quicker we are to BOOM. My daughter explained that I need a longer TNT line.

What my 9 yr old didn’t realize is how wise her comments were. You see, she didn’t say “stop being angry” or “you’re wrong for being angry” – instead she was pointing out that it’s always going to be there – the TNT is always there. Just make sure that your line is long enough for you’re slow to anger.

Oh – and she pointed out one other thing. She said i need to focus on what it’s like for our dog, who yesterday morning experienced snow for the first time. So it made sense why she was so amped up.

So here’s what I take away from my amazing 9 year old:

Make sure you have a long line to your dynamite so you reduce the chances of blowing up. It’s not about “removing” anger, but being slow to it.

And demonstrate empathy. Look at things from someone else perspective. That’ll help too.