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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of IHeart Radio.

Good morning.

This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is that when you feel impatient or irritated with another person,

consider whether you would want to swap situations with them.

Often thinking about what they might be dealing with

can nudge us toward a little more empathy,

or at least suggest more effective

ways of communicating with them.

So I recently heard of a person complaining about an interaction with a difficult colleague,

but then saying, I wouldn't want to swap inboxes with her.

In other words, yes, the person is a pain to work with.

But she has a job that is often tedious and difficult,

and her inbox is one headache after another.

So perhaps she warrants a little compassion.

I think it is a good mindset in general.

When someone is behaving badly, think, would you want to swap with them?

I sometimes get irritated when someone honks or does something rude while driving,

but I try to think, well, hey, I am driving back to my beautiful family and my beautiful home,

...