It was one of those weekday mornings, when you think about skipping work and staying in bed. After fantasizing about this for five minutes, I snapped myself out of it, and gave myself a pep talk. "Ok RA, you need to get up. Lets go have a productive day. Think good thoughts." Well, that didn't fully convince me. What helped was the compromise I made with myself afterwards, "Ok, if you get up, you can stop by your favorite cafe' and treat yourself to a cup of coffee." Yes, that worked! It was just the motivation I needed to jump out of bed and start my day.
Along my three minute walk to the subway, I saw a man screaming into a payphone, a woman arguing with a man across the street, and if that wasn't enough, I saw another man screaming his head off. "Who was that man screaming at?", I wondered. There was no one around, but he was very angry. Anyone within a few blocks could hear this man. It was only 8am in the morning!
I shook it off and proceeded to walk to the subway. There, I witnessed more "fun" activity. I couldn't believe this! For five subway stops, this young woman was having a screaming session with some dude on her cell phone. Did she think she was alone in the subway car, or that no one in the WHOLE subway car could hear? The curse words coming out of her mouth were insane. The threats she made were even crazier. The worst part of this story is that she was doing this in front of her son who looked like he was only six or seven years of age. I looked at the faces of my fellow subway riders. Most of them were either shaking their heads or lowering their heads in shame.
Yet, this is part of our everyday reality. In some places, more than others. Why are people so angry? I could give you tons of reasons, such as stress, not getting a fair shake, racism, being judged, not having the support of the family, a bad boss at work, problems with an ex, etc... The list is endless.
Here's the catch, the more you focus on what is making you angry, the more you will attract those situations that make you feel angry. Don't believe me, check it out for yourself. Observe the world around you.
Luckily, there's always a "silver lining" behind those clouds.
I like to picture positive and negative thoughts like the cartoons back in the old days, with a lil angel for positive thoughts and a lil devil for negative thoughts. The more I feed my lil angel, the lighter and happier I feel. The more I feed the lil devil, the heavier and more clouded I feel. It's really that simple.
There's a quote by Elizabeth Kenny that says, "He who angers you, conquers you."
I don't know about you, but I choose to be conquered by peace.
I'll leave you with this final quote to think about, "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind." Ralph Waldo Emerson
The choice is yours.
