Communicating in the Real World - eBook – (Downloadable – PDF)

How we say things makes a big difference in the response we get. Psychology literature says we’re not responsible for another person’s reactions and that nobody can cause us to react or feel a certain way.  Yes and no:  Yes, we must take control of and responsibility for our own emotions and behavior. We all have hot buttons and soft spots that make us more likely to react to certain things. The good news is we can learn how to control those reactions - or at least regulate them. We may know of people and issues that can easily cause a negative or over-the-top reaction. Having that awareness, we can think ahead about how we want to respond and come up with something that works better than when we are caught off guard. No - or not completely. Some people are jerks, or trolls in the online vernacular. There’s no avoiding that fact. They may try to provoke a reaction by saying and doing things that they know will send people into orbit. If we can learn to change our reactions, they