The Folly of Anger

“Having a grievance or resentment is like drinking poison and thinking it will kill your enemy.” – Nelson Mandela

As we are creatures of and by emotions we must understand that to be angry, or hate, or wish harm to another, or merely hold a grudge, we must produce that state and those emotions within ourselves, first. To do so is to produce the poison Mr. Mandela speaks of above.

A former mentor wisely said, “if you look for things to be disappointed in, mad at, or not good enough, you will always find plenty.”

I like to flip that by saying: if you look for what’s right, what’s good, what can be built upon and what can be learned, you will too find plenty — it does however require different eyes.

Similar Posts

  • Give First

    Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, ‘You owe me.’ Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky. – Hafiz I recently had a realization similar to the quote above. I was waiting for love to come to me, to be loved and cared for…

  • My Goals – My Resolve

    “The outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to reflect their inner beliefs” – James Allen ***** What must I believe about myself to perpetuate my current conditions? What must I believe about myself to create the conditions I desire? What is the disconnect between the conditions I say I want, and…

  • What About You?

    Everyone wants to be appreciated.  So if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret. – Mary Kay Ash Is it a wonderful, great, generous idea and practice to acknowledge and appreciate others? Absolutely. But you can’t give what you don’t see in yourself. What can you appreciate about you today? Take a minute and, sincerely,…

  • Another View of Leadership (Organizational. and Otherwise… )

    Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry You may be wondering how “leadership” and (Saint-Exupery’s thoughts on) “love” are related, but they are. Sort of. Let’s put aside the “gazing at each other” part of the quote and focus on…

  • Laws, Goals and Their Uses

    I had an idea this morning while making my coffee. Laws are not necessarily to prevent people from doing evil things, from being “bad” people. Of course, some are, like laws against murder, rape and assault. But some laws are designed to both prevent egregious offenses, but also to keep good people from doing things…

  • How To Not Be Stuck

    The world is full of people who want to change, who say they need to change, but remain stuck.* I look at one of those people in the mirror every day.                   The above chart illustrates someone who says his Ideal Weight is one number and, yet,…