people these days seem more prickly.....

Not sure why, and perhaps it is just my reactions... but these were the thoughts in my head yesterday as I went about things.
And I got to wondering why people do this...

Looking on the internet, and in a few books I have lying about... several things came up as being "triggers" to things that make people more prickly:

-having unmet expectations. I have high expectations for myself... and probably alot of other people hold themselves accountable to high standards as well. So, when we feel we fall short, we get cranky.
-being tired or sick. I know I do not behave in the best ways when I don't feel good... and I'm sure others are the same.
-not being heard, not being respected, not being appreciated. I think these 3 often go hand-in-hand.
-being treated rudely. Sadly, when someone is rude to you, you often become rude to someone else. It shouldn't work this way, but often does.
-being lied to. Injustice. Yep. Been there.

So what do you do?
Usually, I kill them with kindness... or at least, try to.
But sometimes it's much more complicated.

So I looked (again) ... and found these articles by author Annie Zirkel that I thought I would share today:
here (this one is a quiz, and is the first of 4 articles she wrote)
here
here
here

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(( the photo for today's post, is of a thistle plant. I found this the other day while I was walking in the woods near my house. It was super tall... probably close to 5 feet in height. ... and the hummingbirds LOVED it ))