Step Back and Sit a Little Closer.

The fox fell silent and looked steadily at the little prince for a long time.
'Please,' he said, 'tame me!'
'I should like to,' replied the little prince, 'but I don't have much time. I have friends to discover and many things to understand.'
'One only ever understands what one tames. People no longer have the time to understand anything. They buy everything ready-made from the shops. but there is no shop where friends can be bought, so people no longer have friends. If you want a friend, tame me!'
'What do I have to do?' said the little prince.
'You have to be very patient,' replied the fox. 'First, you will sit down a short distance away from me, like that, in the grass. I shall watch you out of the corner of my eye and you will say nothing; words are the source of misunderstandings. But each day you may sit a little closer to me.'                

- The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry           

Step 1 in the Five Steps to a Good Decision is to Step Back.

We yield to the emotions triggered by information.

We sit with them. Wallow in them. Surrender to them.

Seconds. Minutes. Days. Months. However long we have.

The longer we sit, the less frightening the feelings become.

We tame them.

We understand them.

They become our friends. Teachers.

Our emotional responses to events aren't to be feared or ignored or avoided or overcome or denied.

They aren't to be crushed or suppressed as the Leadership Lore would have us believe.

Sit. Tame. Learn. 

Become who you are.