Anger Comes With a Price

What happens to your body when you exhibit anger?  Your body goes into the fight or flight mode…..blood rushes into your limbs for fight or flight, your face gets red, your jaw stiffens, your voice pitch gets higher, and you feel hot and think irrationally.  Many get headaches or migraines, chest pains, aches and more.  A study was done of 13,000 participants which showed those who experienced the highest levels of anger were twice as likely to develop coronary artery disease and three times more at risk for heart attacks than the rest of the study participants,.

So, my question; “Is anger an involuntary response, or is it a choice?”  It is said that the emotional anger response is short-lived.  That is why it is productive to count to ten before acting on our anger.  There are some psychologists that say if your anger lasts more than a few seconds, you are acting and must take responsibility for the acting job.  I believe sometimes we make unhealthy habits of acting out our anger.   We have unconsciously made a choice to act angrily in certain situations.  When we understand the futility of our anger, we can change or channel that behavioral energy.  As Wayne Dyer once said; ”In the scheme of things, what you do and whether you are angry or not will have all the impact of another glass of water being thrown over Niagara Falls.”  So, why are we wasting our time and energy letting anger destroy our present moments?  Stand back and see the futility of taking life so seriously.  Below are some of the common instances where people choose anger:

Anger while driving:  Yelling at other drivers because they don’t signal properly, they change lanes too frequently, they are going too fast, or too slow.  Or you’re stuck in a traffic jam.  We tell ourselves this should not be happening.   And this traffic is responsible for my anger.  The truth is others are living in their own world of thoughts as they drive.  And the traffic does not care if you are angry.  It will take whatever time it needs.

Anger about taxes:  No amount of anger will change the tax laws.

Anger about the out of place:  You find a pedestrian or a cyclist or motor cyclist where you think they do not belong.  You’re angry because they don’t belong there and you drive very closely to them to let them know you are displeased.  This is very dangerous and has caused many serious accidents.  Getting angry does not change the fact that they are out of place.

Anger about the unorganized  or sloppy habits of others:  Your anger will probably reinforce their sloppy behavior.

Anger about the tardiness of others:  Set a time for your meeting and if the other does not arrive on time, go on without them.  But if you choose to wait for them recognize you did choose to wait for them.

Anger at inanimate objects.  You hit your shin bone or hammer your thumb.  A scream can be therapeutic, but kicking an object or throwing the hammer is futile and could harm another.

Anger over loss of an object.  Rage will not turn up a lost key or wallet but it will prevent you from thinking clearly and launching a productive search,

Anger over world events beyond your control.  You may not approve of the politics and foreign relations or the economy.  But anger will immobilize you and will not change anything.

One of the best remedies for anger is a good sense of humor.  Helping others see the humor in life is good therapy for yourself and others.  Observe yourself and others…. see the humor.  Laugh just for the sake of laughing.  You cannot be both angry and laughing.  Laughter is good medicine and is contageous.  Your body is truthful….you feel better when you laugh.  Laughter fills your body with health enhancing hormones and endorphins.

For now, Earlynn’s just sayin’:  “We all know we cannot think clearly when we’re angry, so let’s stand back and look at each situation.   We don’t need to react angrily even if we have acted so in the past.  We can create more productive behavior.  Learn to see the humor and….` laugh.”

http://earlynnsjustsayin.org/inspirational-thought/

To get your copy of Earlynn’s book, Transformed, just click on the above tab, ‘Earlynns’ Book’ to place your order.  Thank you!  “Gloria! In Excelsis Deo!”