Why did I respond that way?

Viktor Frankl, the author of "Man's search for Meaning" survived four years in a concentration camp but not only did he survive, he came out of the camp with his Logotherapy and formed what is arguably called "The fourth Vienese school of Psychology".  At the time of the author's death in 1997, the book had sold 10 million copies in twenty-four languages. Frankl concludes that: "the meaning of life is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death".
So I will join the many who have found this book immensly helpfull by quoting:

"Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way".

Let's ponder a few scenarios:
 Your new cell phone suddenly is nowhere to be found,  your partner quickly shuts down the computer screen when you enter the room, your best friend don't call for weeks and all your calls go to the inbox,  your happy child suddenly is withdrawn and sullen,  your teenage child suddenly gets a tattoo, you're sacked at work without notice, how will you respond?..(this list is endless)
What if we could choose a mindset, a response? What if before we react we could choose how we are going to respond? Here is some really good news,....we can. 
It takes discipline and will power, but we can do it if we want to and the first step to take that I have found very helpfull, is to take a deep breath, hold it for a few moments, then exhale purpusefully.......focusing only on the breathing.
Our emotions usually want to have the first say, but what if don't let them? What if we think first?
Ah, but our thinking is very infuenced by our emotions you may say, so how do we seperate them? Maybe we identify our thoughts? So we may have: objective=dealing with facts and figures only; subjective/pessimistic= why it's doomed to fail, what is wrong with it;  positive/optimistic= why it's going to work, what is right with it; emotional= the feelings attached; and rational= taking all into account/overview, decide what outcome is desired.
Maybe to some of us this sounds like a lot of work and yes, there is work involved but let's consider the possible gains. Chosing how you will respond offers you a sense of empowerment, of keeping you focused on the desired outcome, of controlling your feelings rather than vice versa, of understanding the decision making processess underlying your responses.
How we will respond to any given situation is up to us and as we chose, that choice will then determine how we cope.  "Life is like a box of chocolates, Life is what happens while we are busy making plans, Life only happens now, Life is suffering, Life is but a dream" to just quote a few, but the fact still remains, we chose our attitude, our response, and our life will be a reflection of that choice. I will let Viktor Frankl have the last word;

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom".