"Emotional maturity is one of the greatest achievements of psychological awareness.  It is the antithesis of emotional immaturity, which expresses itself whenever it wants to, in whatever fashion it feels like, no matter what the consequences.  Hysteria, pouting, manipulation, whining, withdrawal, sarcasm, attack - all these are forms of emotional immaturity.  They show that the person enacting them is still emotionally young, still not strong enough to act maturely.  When we are emotionally mature, on the other hand, we know that the world does not revolve around us, that solutions to problems, whether circumstantial or emotional, take time and will not necessarily come in exactly the form we imagined.  Emotional maturity has patience, knows when to hold it's tongue, and when to offer a comforting word.  Emotional maturity is a fine art."

Excerpted from A Garland of Love: Daily Reflections on the Magic and Meaning of Love by Daphne Rose Kingma