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CTL-VIII-0055

“I had the angry text written and I paused, deleted it, and saved a friendship.”

CTL · Pillar III — Control CTL-VIII · Redirect Immediately.

Your thumb was over send and the words were sharp and satisfying. You paused. You read it as them. Then you deleted it. Redirecting immediately, in the half-second before the irreversible, is one of the quietest and most powerful things a person can learn to do.

Your Practice

  1. When the message is ready and hot, set the phone down for ten minutes.
  2. Read it imagining you're the one receiving it.
  3. Delete it. Write what you actually want to be true between you.
  4. Send that, or nothing, after the heat has passed.

The Architects

“Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason which now thou usest for present things.”

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VII.8 (George Long translation)

More under CTL-VIII

CTL-VIII-0001“I just got fired.”CTL-VIII-0002“My plan fell apart and I don't know what to do next.”CTL-VIII-0003“I redirected a bad day into a productive one.”CTL-VIII-0004“I keep reacting to things I should let pass.”CTL-VIII-0005“I'm struggling with a habit I keep returning to.”CTL-VIII-0006“I'm proud of how I handled a situation that used to derail me.”
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