George Thompson teaches verbal judo, which is a technique of using words to stop or avoid an argument.
George Thompson's example is of a situation where he was driving and a teenager drove past him, and he got angry and yelled at the teenager, but the teenager didn't seem to mind.
The main takeaway from this example is that, when using verbal judo, it is important to match the other person's tone and not get angry.
When was the last time someone said or did something that triggered you? How did you feel – frustrated, angry, unsafe? What did you say? The chances are you reacted in one of two ways, either by shutting down, avoiding the conflict or by saying something defensive back because conflict begets conflict. In this episode, I share a story, things I am learning, and leave you with a specific action you can take right now to be able to respond rather than to react to the conflict in your most important relationships. You will be able to use your words to redirect the negative force of others towards a positive outcome.