Don’t Get Angry

There is a quote attributed to Nelson Mandela, saying, “Don’t let anger become your poison.”

When I was younger, I used to have occasional bouts of anger. Anger at my wife for something she did or did not do, anger at my kids for some act of mischief, at colleagues for some issues of ego, anger at strangers because I could not control my emotions.

There was some anger that was getting pent up and would find a breach to express itself.

After every episode, I would feel miserable. How could I let myself down like this?

Fortunately, this is no longer an area of concern for me. As I have become more self-aware, I have achieved control over my actions and responses to emotional triggers. I remind myself of three big reasons why it is futile to get angry.

1. At best, my directed anger can correct the action of a person. It can never correct or change the thinking of a person. I have just expended a lot of energy letting my steam off, but there is no fundamental change that will happen outside. Everyone only remembers my tone and ignores the content of what I have to say. 
2. My anger disturbs everyone else’s peace. I have no right to do that. Why should I vitiate the atmosphere around me? 
3. Finally, anger disturbs my own peace. It gnaws at my soul and upsets my state of balance.

There are no benefits of any sort that any of us have coming from anger. Refer to my blog on emotions(unpleasant feelings), anger is just an emotional state that pumps out lots of cortisol into the bloodstream creating a physical state of unpleasantness. If you give yourself 60-90 seconds to let the neuro-chemical reaction run its course, it is not very difficult to hold your anger from manifesting.

Eliminate anger from your lifestyle. It will make you feel lighter !!