Cool your jets.   Keep your shirt on.   Hold your horses.    On an even keel.  Cool as a cucumber. We’re not talking about jets, shirts, horses, vegetables or nautical adventures.

What are we talking about?    COMPOSURE:  well managed emotions.

The ability to manage our emotions and regulate our response starts with self-awareness, the foundation for Emotional Intelligence. If we want to be more composed, even in the most difficult of circumstances, we must practice.

What we think and feel influence our behavior. Want better behavior? Start observing. Ask for feedback. Gather data regularly. Note the ebb and flow of emotions. Do this for at at least a full week. The Mood Meter is an app that helps track and trend. click here to find out more: The Mood Meter App

Notice, track and trend, then practice. Don’t wait until you’re under pressure and over-extended. Practice. Be intentional. Mindfully breathe and stay with your breath.  Otherwise, prepare to get yanked around by the feelings. Feelings are like weather, constantly changing. To intuitively and calmly respond is a skill that requires time, attention and practice.

So, let’s practice keeping our shirt on, holding our horses, cool as a cucumber. Perhaps we will feel that way on occasion when things heat up.

 “It isn’t the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer,

it’s how we relate to the things that happen to us that causes us to suffer.”

~ Pema Chodron