I agree – as long as I continue to harbor negative emotions, I will continue to struggle to with the concept of releasing anger. It is probably unrealistic to expect myself to be able to respond compassionately all the time overnight. I am harboring a lot of guilt about my past reactions, but I need to focus my attention on how to correct my behavior moving forward.

Baby steps. I cannot change the past, but I can change how I choose to respond in the future. I sure wish it were easier to keep calm in the thick of it. Last night’s altercation with my husband, for example: I had to work so hard just to keep my temper in check, so that I was unable to have a productive conversation. All I could do was say I was trying to avoid an argument and didn’t want to keep talking about it for fear of flying off the handle. I may have had a more positive interaction if I’d asked my husband to share with me why he was so frustrated rather than assuming I already knew?