Brian_4_Q

I think it all comes down to tone for me. I think, at least a lot of the time, I attempt to influence with tone alone yet I'm not very good at it. I know a lot of people think I'm cocky but often times I'm trying to inspire rivalry or competition because I work best in a competitive atmosphere. Other times my tone is influenced less by the situation at hand but rather something happening in the background.

When I'm pissed at my cat for using his razor blade set to rip open his food bag and pouring it all over the room...I often carry that emotion into other situations. Yesterday is a prime example; that little shit spread the food all over the extra bedroom because I wouldn't give him his second 'snack' of the day knowing his full meal was only 4-5 hours away. I woke up, saw the mess, and it set my mood for the rest of the day. My tone responded by being short and authoritarian...exactly the mood I didn't want to portray but my subconscious held onto it so tightly that I couldn't get away. Perhaps if I used the example that Simmons does in saying to my cat in a sweet, high, sing-songish voice, "oh Aristotle, you fat little bastard..." and letting the emotions around cool to the same tone. He probably would have liked it more than me yelling and chasing him and it would have kept me out of my fight/flight mindset. (I almost need to sleep after an F/F situation because it drives my mood the rest of the day...)

So my question, what's the best way to adjust my mood to make my tone sound genuine? Or should I really care?...because a lot of the time I dont.