Curbing
Anger
“People
won't have time for you if your are always angry or complaining.”
Stephen
Hawking
I've been conducting an
experiment. I am consuming less news and watching less television. I
realized that I felt angry all the time; frustrated with people in
power who care more about their reelection campaigns than about the
needs of real people. I could make a long list of complaints and
frustrations, but I'll spare you the details. Anger at things beyond
my control caused me to be short tempered and difficult with the
people I care about. It interrupted my sleep and made me to feel like
the whole world was going to hell in a hand-basket. It had to stop.
Anger is a whole body
experience. When we're angry, our blood pressure goes up and we hold
tension in our muscles, making us more accident prone. The chemistry
of anger keeps us full of adrenalin, so we don't sleep well, which
causes body pain and exhaustion. Sustained anger undermines our
immune system, causing susceptibility to illness and creating
inflammation in the body. In other words, holding anger is bad for
one's health on multiple levels.
I don't advocate dropping
out. I will always care what happens in America, but I am looking now
for things that create hope and optimism rather than despair. I know
that the unrest some of us are experiencing now will produce change
for the better. People are starting to realize that we don't want to
be the world's pariah and bully. Most Americans are good-hearted
people and we don't like to be seen as greedy and obnoxious. But rage
is not helpful. It hurts us and everyone in our orbit.
Here are some words of
wisdom from Aristotle: “Anybody can become angry—that is easy,
but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at
the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way—that
is not within everybody's power and is not easy.” Amen to that,
Aristotle.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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