Be wary of anger

In his homily the priest said, “Be wary of your anger. Because it might break your heart….”

I agree on what the priest said. My late husband had a heart attack  and eventually passed away seven years ago due to anger.  Prior to the heart attack, he was in a meeting and expressing his anger and dissatisfaction over an insurance company that did not pay our claim when the building of our corporation was gutted down by  fire. He collapsed and was in coma for three months and one week  until he expired.

According to Dr. Daniel Theyagu, a corporate seminar leader, when you become angry there is a series  of cascading reaction in your body that will make you feel irritable, frustrated and miserable. However, all these reactions occur in your mind and the thought process that makes you feel this way affects your physical action as well. You need to realize that as long as your feelings occur in your mind, you still have the ability to take  change of it and manage it in such a way that you are motivated by the course of action you take.

Dr. Theyagu added, “It’s all having the choice to do or feel  what you want.  As Dr. Wayne Dyer puts it, “Be miserable or  motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” And Laurence J. Peter reminds, “ Speak when you’re angry , and you will make the best speech you’ll ever regret.”

There are ways wherein you can manage your anger. Dr. Theyagu offers the following tips:

Analyze the situation that makes you angry. Analyze the situation to see what and why you feel this sense of anger. Try to resolve the situation if you can, if this is not possible then learn to move on.  Lingering on to the situation only going to make matters worst for you.

Analyze the people you are dealing with. The people in your life can influence you in many ways more than you think of. If you are always in the company of people who have the tendency to lose their temper easily, it will affect your sense of balance. There is an Arabic proverb which says, “ A wise man associating with the vicious becomes an idiot; a dog traveling with a good man becomes a rational being.”

Learn to laugh at mistake you make. Life is never an easy road. You will face obstacles and sometimes fall. If every time something bad happens you get angry and fall into the “Why me?” syndrome. The truth of the matter is that whenever you have the “Why me?” feeling, this statement reflects  that we think that what happened to us is unfortunate and unfair. However, you have to remember that there are others who might have suffered a worst consequence. The only way to manage such a feeling of dread that leads to anger is to learn to laugh at yourself and the mistakes that you’ve made. The more you are able to do things, the more inner peace you attain , and you become better at handling situations or people who make you angry.

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If you have problems and want someone to talk to, go to the Kahupayan Counselling Center and Pastoral Care For Women and Girls at the basement of Sto. Rosario Church. The counseling is free.

Email:oysonkathy@yahoo.com