Don't Hold Onto Your Anger.

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

~ Mark Twain

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." ~ Buddha

These men lived about 2400 years apart and they both reflected on the exact same idea. You can't really argue with that.

I've had angry days, everyone has, but eventually they got fewer and farther apart. I began to realize that anger really did hurt me more than it hurt the people I was angry at. Sometimes the person I was mad at didn't even know I was mad at them. It really was just hurting me.

I still get angry, but I don't let it sink into my soul. Getting angry is natural, but you have to get rid of it just as quick as it comes. Wash it off yourself just like you wash the dirt at the end of the day. It's when your anger soaks right down into your soul that you're in trouble.

See, eventually you get so full of anger that not only do you hold it but you actually start to radiate it onto others. You radiate it onto the people who made you angry and you radiate it onto innocent people.

One thing I do is I take a few deep breaths and give myself a few seconds to feel my anger. Then I ask myself a question: will this matter in a month or in a year. The answer is usually no. Usually we get angry over trivial little things and perceived slights, if we can see them as trivial things it makes it easier to get over them.

If I can't get over it, I deal with the problem directly. I wait until I'm calm and I have a conversation with the person who I'm angry with. A civil conversation. Usually our differences can be worked out.

Holding onto anger is never worth it, you end up making yourself far more miserable than you make the person you're angry at.

Don't hold onto your anger, the fire inside will consume your soul and only singe the hairs of your enemies.

This has been Bloom and that's my time.

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