Don’t Poison Yourself with Anger

In the past, I have been an angry and easily irritated individual. So many little things throughout my day would make my blood boil and send my mind into a reeling spiral of complaints and criticisms. A slow driver in front of me on the road, seeing someone litter, a noisy neighbor. All of these things would leave me furious. Recently, however, I have realized the impracticality of such a mindset. Feeling this anger and letting my inner monologue begin justifying this anger and obsessing over the rudeness, carelessness, or illogical behavior of others did not serve to change any of these things.

These annoyances were every day occurrences, unavoidable, and largely things that I could never hope to eliminate from my world. Yet, they caused me to become filled with such frustration. The anger they caused took up so much time and mental energy. Recently, however, I have begun to overcome these flares of fury.

I realized that my passionate disapproval of these things was not going to lead to any kind of change. The only thing that I was doing was harming myself. I was increasing my risk for heart attack in later life and I was also destroying so many potential moments of peace and happiness that I could have been enjoying. Now when I feel my anger beginning to bubble up to the forefront of my consciousness, I remind myself that this anger serves no purpose. I remember that it is easy to focus on things that bother you or things that didn’t go the way you wanted them to. But there are plenty of wonderful joyous aspects of my day that slip under my awareness.

Most of us don’t allow ourselves to revel in the joy of waking up to birdcalls in the morning, or the satisfaction of getting the last package of your favorite snack at the supermarket. These things are just as common, but our minds seem to overlook them more often than the small unpleasantries. This creates strong neurological connections in our brain over time, forever intensifying and reinforcing this focus on the negative. Instead, we can all chose to let this anger go. We can chose to pay more attention to the small joys in our lives instead. The more you consciously chose to let go of your anger and increase your attention on pleasant things, the easier it gets as the wiring of your brain begins to alter. You will become a more calm and positive person. Allow your life to be full of peace rather than anger.

Let it go, my loves. ❤

Advertisement