At times, we do an action based not upon logic and calm reasoning, but upon a feeling of strong emotion, such as anger, panic or fear. Later, we may regret what we did, and wish we had remained cool-headed long enough to have thought more clearly and slowly about the consequences.

After this happens a few times, a person may develop a strategy for dealing with such moments of high emotion in order to try to stay calm. One method is to stop and count slowly from the number one to ten. During that ten seconds of counting, a person might calm down enough to be more careful about what they do next. So if someone sees you getting angry, don't be surprised if they tell you, "Please relax and count to ten."