Droplet Of Wisdom No 2

This short reflective piece introduces the wisdom and practice of taking the space between an event and your response to choose the best options. It makes a simple link between the everyday advice we maybe heard from our parents and the science of how mind and body influence each other for the better.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Graeme Dexter here with another Droplet of Wisdom.

This one I call,

Calling Your Crossness.

Most people can find other people frustrating from time to time.

Frustration can often turn to crossness,

And sometimes even worse.

It's not always easy when emotions are high and you feel cross,

To hold back.

So this is an old remedy that many of you will remember when I remind you of it.

It was given to me by my mother.

Perhaps it was given to you too.

When you feel your blood boil,

Your temper is frayed,

And you feel out of control,

Take a deep breath and hold it while you mentally count to ten.

When you've reached ten,

If there is any anger left,

Just use your held breath to blow out an imaginary candle on a cake labelled,

Peace and Forgiveness,

Or something similar.

Now despite this seemingly simple advice that may have been passed to us by wise parents,

It does have a sound basis in science.

The human nervous system allows for rapid spikes of adrenaline and similar hormones,

Which stimulate and provoke specific emotions.

However,

Maintaining the production and flow of these hormones is not easy for the brain to do.

Hence,

When counting to ten,

We disrupt the production and flow of these hormones,

And thus it dispenses your crossness.

So,

I wonder how mother knew that?

Thanks for listening.

I'll be back shortly with another Droplet of Wisdom.

Reviews

Thank you for sharing this with us, Namaste, my friend

My mother taught me this as well, sort of. She would grit her teeth and count to ten instead of yelling. I never tase her blow it out though.

Such a brief and easy practice. Wise parental lessons. Thank you for sharing. It was not a lessons I was ever taught and I really am grateful for learning it now

✨💛

Such great advice. Loved this. Thank you, Dr. Graham Dexter. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Chuckle-chuckle… “I wonder how mother knew that!” 🥰 Enjoyed (so far… droplet 1 & 2. Yes, that break of 10 counts… saves us from saying things that can’t be easily recovered! Thank you for every droplet!

I’d never heard it that way before
Great advice 🌺

Your droplets of wisdom are so refreshing and much needed. Thanks so much!

Thank you for this timely and timeless reminder! 💖

Yes ! My mother shared that wisdom .. except without blowing candle out on cake part!!! She often forgot to count to 10 herself and I do too at times! Breaking patterns is possible! I’ll teach my daughters this one! Ty ❤️

Short sweet calming easy to practice
Thank you 🙏🏻🖖👍🇨🇦

Thank you for this reminder of counting to 10 when frustrated. My Dad taught me this many many moons ago and I had forgotten it until your reminder. I will be using this most when driving because that's where I seem to get the most frustrated. 💮

Simple and wise! Amazing how the remedies of old are now being discovered to be science based. Thanks for this reminder.

I'm glad to hear there is a scientific reason on why counting to ten works. I'm really enjoying your droplets of wisdom. Thank you!