The one thing that has always confused me about "cool headed" Gaara is how he became able to control sand. During the ninja war, Gaara's father (Rasa) Originally thought that Gaara had completely given in to the Shikaku (1 tail) mainly because of the vast amount of sand that Gaara was controlling.
This leads me to believe that Sand manipulation is a characteristic trait of only the 1 tailed beast. However, if that were the case then Gaara should have lost the ability to manipulate Sand immediately after the Shikaku was extracted, but that wasn't the case.
Gaara's sand has also been known to protect him from all forms of danger, even when Gaara himself can't see the attack. This happens a lot in the Naruto series but during that same fight, his father stated that the sand was the proof of his mothers love.
(I'm not sure if this one part is actually true but a friend of mine told me that the sand is Gaara's mothers will and that's why he carries it around cause the sand is special) If that were also the case then Why can Gaara control normal sand too.
Its kinda confusing and I can't pinpoint how Gaara is actually able to manipulate sand.