Anger
(This article is originally published on hardik.org where I publish such articles regularly. Feel free to check out other writing there.)
I have had a bit of anger issues. Well I have had a short temper for the better part of my life so far. I would snap out at the slightest of misdoings and this would at times end up getting blown out of proportions because of my subsequently growing rage. That, eventually would end up in a very sad situation resulting in a lot of sad people and a stretch of time when everyone is upset.
Of course I wanted to change that. It was becoming a problem and I did not want to suffer in it nor did I want to let those around me suffer in it. So I sat down and pondered: what could I do? There were a few options: seek therapy, seek psychological help, practice meditation and mental stability. I did all of that.
Let me share a bit of philosophy about anger here.
It really serves no purpose. It’s completely useless. It’s the worst (and the most futile) reaction you can have to any situation.
And that is what became my reason for conviction against giving in to anger. I started practicing mental toughness to not let anger conquer my mind. This helps tremendously. I know that this sounds deceptively simple and predictably uneffective but it’s not. It’s actually a very good method for peace.
And it helps professionally as well. Imagine you have planned 5 different tasks on your to-do list for today in the morning when you come to the office. By the evening, you are able to finish none of them. Nothing gets done in the whole day. This can be due to no fault of yours and due to some completely unforeseen reasons. Maybe your accountant got sick. Maybe your supplier went on a leave. Maybe your laptop refused to function. Maybe your Internet connection did not work for the whole day at the office. You get mad because the day is wasted. This happened to me a lot. But slowly (with some very practical words from my father), I learned to slow down and see the bigger picture. I realized that this is how things work in the real world.
You and your life are dependent on so many people, so many things and so many factors you cannot even fathom with your own mind. There can be an unimaginable number of things that can go wrong and mess up your life, career and relations but do not go wrong. Be thankful for those, and move on. Do not get worked up by those things that do go wrong because well, as I said, very little is in your own hands.
This is more of a message to my own self than to you, the reader
Learn to move on. Learn to let go. Learn to be considerate. People make mistakes, you make mistakes. Give everyone a generous margin for error in life. Forgive and forget. Control what you can and don’t lose sight of your own dreams.
