“Anger is the feeling that makes your mouth work faster than your mind.” (Evan Esar)

A mind is a hard thing to keep up with. Minds wander. They daydream. They calculate far more quickly than we can even fathom. But when we get angry, our minds have a tendency to check out and take a backseat to our mouths.

Maybe that’s precisely the time when our mouths ought to mind our minds. Maybe clamming up is the best idea when we get angry.

Perhaps the next time anger wells up inside and your mouth wants to erupt, you should just stop. Zip it. Shush. Not forever, but just long enough to push the pause button so you can make sure that what you say is what you really want to say and what you do is really what you want to do.