There is lots of stuff that was not what I would describe as lessons that were a ton of fun to learn. In the next several weeks, I hope to share some lessons I and some of my friends have learned. Maybe you will not have to take the hard road. Rather, learn from others hard knocks instead of having to go through it yourself.

Lesson One-

I remember many years ago, I found out the hard way that yelling is a pretty lousy way to resolve an argument. To be honest it was the only way I knew to resolve a disagreement. When I was growing up, it was sort of like whoever yelled loudest won. At least that is how I remember it.

When I was just married to my husband Bill, we were in a laundry mat, doing laundry. Something was not making me happy. I cannot remember what, I do know that I yelled at Bill ( just like I did all the years of growing up) and he just said" that is not how we resolve things Donna" and he walked out of the laundry mat.

I was shocked. How in the world would I survive disagreements if I could not yell? He came back in a little while. I apologized.

It took some major adjustments, but I did learn to just speak instead. Not easy let me tell you.

Proverbs 15:1 says " a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger"(NIV)

Maybe you are a yeller. It is never too late to change. You don't feel any better after screaming your head off suprisingly. Just speak. Sometimes, no reply is wise. Wait until things calm a bit. Sometimes that is the right thing to do. What do you think?