I don't listen to everything that my moronic brain throws at me. Sometimes it says such atrocious things that its hard to believe that these crazy illogical thoughts have originated between "my" ears.
Off late, I've had at least one minor victory over my anger. My gym membership expired in Dec-07. Now, it was an utter waste of money Coz I couldn't find the time for it. Anyhow, I managed for two months with long gaps in between and then finally gave up and watched hard earned money go down the drain. That hurt. Trust me! And I kept thinking these people haven't called even once to ask if I am alive and alright. Nobody called to ask why I've stopped coming. And then I thought, sure... they'll call. After they realise that the membership has expired for this moron who made 100% one time payment. And then they'll call. So I did border on rage when the call came after the membership was one week into its expiry date.
I calmed me down and told this nice gentleman who called me that I am not renewing my membership. He asked why.. he had to... So I told him that I was expecting his call before the membership expired. I told him you guys are so many people as a team and not one single person called to ask why haven't I turned up for four weeks in a row. Not one person.
I didn't say this with anger. Although I felt it. I said this with lets a little bit of sadness. The guy apologised instead of being defensive. I told him, you guys are a team. So don't apologise for everyone. But in the end, it makes a deference if the client sees a team effort and I told him its not any one persons fault. He had to say something coz I was just so right and he couldn't help it. So he said actually ma'am, our computer crashed sometime back. I let him. I said I yeah sure, I understand. I think he knows I didn't buy that. But thats okay.
I realise, sometimes, you should just lay your cards out on the table and you instantly get through the defensiveness barrier. But then, you've got to take the risk first :)