Stay Positive-3, Manage Anger

In continuation to my blogs posted on 17^th & 18^th January, 2008, wherein I decided to smile, keep smiling and stop worrying over non-worryable issues to remain positive, another emotion which needs to be controlled to stay positive is “Anger”.

Anger is an emotional state that may range from minor irritation to intense rage. The physical effects of anger include increased heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of adrenaline and nonadreline. Some view anger as part of the fight or flight brain response to the perceived threat of pain.

I would rather choose to ignore the aforementioned adverse physical effects of anger and would prefer to concentrate on the following self explanatory quotes of a few great personalities:

“Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
Seneca

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned.”
Buddha

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
Emerson, Ralph Waldo

“If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?”
Harris, Sidney J.

“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”
Buddha

“You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.”
Gandhi, Indira

Now having known that it is me who is getting affected the most by my anger, let me see how I can control it, or at least make an effort to control it.

I remember having said to a number of persons on a number of occasions-“How I wish I could control my anger.”

I revisit past and try to recollect instances in which I did loose my temper and try to analyze the reasons. Believe me, I could not recollect a single instance when I lost temper on my boss. Nor I could find an instance where I lost my temper on my parents or on someone whom I thought is mightier than I was. However, I could come up with numerous instances of loosing temper on my wife, kids, subordinates and people who did not matter much.

I was amazed to discover that all these days I was expressing my anger on people and situations where I could afford to. I was very much in control in situations where I thought it might harm me/my carrier.

The aforementioned experience was enough to convince me that I was managing my Anger according to my convenience and was only befooling myself by making statements that I had no control over my anger.

My being an average person with average intellect leads me to believe that most of my friends, if not all, would have had similar experiences when it comes to managing Anger.

Let’s be honest to ourselves in managing Anger. I can assure you that with practice it is possible.