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

  • What Ideas Must Become

    Ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good and brave men, or they are no better than dreams. – Emerson Ideas are nothing, really, without action. I would put a slightly different twist on Emerson’s words by saying ideas not worked through the minds, hearts and bodies of men are mere fantasies….

  • What Are We?

    I had a thought the other day and wanted to share the notes I feverishly scribbled down, along with a couple further thoughts. Here’s what I came up with (un-edited): We are spiritual beings with a body. We experience the world through our body – our senses. We think, that is how we move our spirit…

  • Just Keep Getting Up

    Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do. – Confucius People confuse glory, and success, with never failing. Quite the contrary. Success, and glory, consists of getting back up each time you get knocked down. Of learning from non-desired outcomes and beginning again, with wisdom and humility….

  • Anxiety or Anticipation?

    Anxiety is caused by a lack of control, organization, preparation, and action. – David Kekich There’s a difference between anxiety or (slightly nervous) anticipation. I’ve found that before a key event, like a job interview or a first date, my mental energy heightens. This can be a good thing, or not. If I’m feeling anxious,…

  • Redefining Perfect

    “Perfect” gets a bad rap. Why? Because it’s confused with “perfection” which is, non-ideal and non-resourceful. Things are perfect. And by “perfect” I mean they are just as they should be. There’s no way they could be any other way than how they are. Things are the way they are by virtue of the choices…