Some thoughts on anger . . .

I blogged a week or so ago on the need for real change in the world, as we work to communicate better with those different from us . . . to re-instate, if you will, the art of "civil communication."

The following words came to me today through email. I receive weekly tid-bits from author John Mason. They make me stop and think.

I hope they might make you think a bit as well . . . and maybe help you ask the question when emotions swell forth . . . "Why am I getting angry?"

My contribution is this old counseling proverb . . . "I make the decision to get angry."

John Mason writes:

-A Filipino saying advises, "Postpone today's anger until tomorrow." (Then apply this rule the next day and the next.)

-When you are upset, take a lesson from modern science: always count down before blasting off.

-By the way, counting to ten may not be enough; I know sometimes it takes counting to twenty.

-The book of Proverbs counsels, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city."

-Blowing your stack always adds to the air pollution.

-How many great ideas have you had while you were angry? How many "expensive words" have you said when you were upset?

-You'll never get to the top if you keep blowing yours.

-Anger is one letter short of danger.

-People who are constantly blowing fuses are generally left in the dark.

-If you lose your head, how can you expect to use it?

-One of the worst fruits of anger is revenge.

-No passion of the human heart promises so much and pays so little as that of revenge.

-The longest odds in the world are those against getting even with someone.

-Francis Bacon adds, "In taking a revenge a man is but even with his enemies; but in passing it over, he is superior."

-Time spent in getting even is better used in trying to get ahead.

-When trying to get even, you will always do odd things.

-"Vengeance is a dish that should be eaten cold" (an Old English proverb).

-Anger is a boomerang that will surely hit you harder than anyone or anything at which you throw it.

-Keep your temper. No one else wants it.

-John Mason, from the book Know Your Limits, Then Ignore Them