By Sarah Chana Radcliffe
Almost everyone will be yelling at one point or another... It's never fun to be yelled at. A loud voice - especially when accompanied by a stern looking or angry looking facial expression - is scary and unpleasant. Since you don't want to alienate your loved ones, you won't want to be speaking to them in a loud voice on a regular basis. But on those occasions when you do lose your cool, you can reduce the harm you cause to your listener and to your relationship, by severely curtailing what you SAY when you are speaking loudly. Basically, the LESS you say the better, so once you hear yourself screaming, shouting or otherwise foaming at the mouth, try to close your lips as soon as possible. Stick to a short phrase like "I'm very very upset!" and DO NOT include any comments about the offending person - no description of behavior or personality. No insults, no swear words, no name-calling. Yelling is bad, but the words that accompany the loud voice, cause the greatest destruction.
That person insulted YOU so, yes, you snapped and said a bunch of not-nice things, but.... Although you, your spouse and your children all behave badly from time to time (especially when bothered by another person), you are all normal, precious, lovable human beings. Remember this when YOU'RE not the one who is temporarily behaving badly.
