Last Saturday afternoon I blew a tire. Everything went to hell in a handbasket when my friends and I discovered what happened. We ended up sitting on the side of the road for four hours because I wasn't prepared.

After the issue was resolved, I told Maddie how awful I felt for making everyone sit on the side of the road. She told me I was the only one who felt bad. Her statement made me realize I was focusing on the wrong details.

Experiences only feel as bad as we let them. People have known how powerful controlling perspective can be for thousands of years. We all have a certain disposition towards emotional reactions, but that doesn't mean we are a slave to our disposition. We can control how we react to situations.

When we are calm and choose to focus on what we can control, we become stronger.