Mental Fitness

There are many causes of our anger. It can begin to ignite if we are directly attacked, or we feel unjustly criticised, when someone else is inconsiderate or deliberately hurts our feelings or offends our ethics, morals or codes of behaviour.

We get angry as a psychological defence mechanism when we are embarrassed, cornered, or hurt physically, emotionally or mentally and then we find it difficult to keep silent, and refrain from retaliation. When we do decide to hurt back we know we have let ourselves down to become the victim of someone else’s mood and action. We then are apt to feel weak.

If we wish to be emotionally and mentally strong we have to refrain from reacting to many things particularly to violence or anger. This does not mean that we are negative. In fact to keep calm in the midst of disturbance takes courage and inner strength. Try it – as Rudyard Kipling tells his son in the poem “ To keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you….”

We known that anger is not admirable – that anger is a weakness – that anger is destructive of relationships, material goods, human life, harmony, love and affection, that anger suddenly is ‘picked up’ when we are vulnerable and it becomes contagious – that anger is often to disguise other feelings, hurts and violent thoughts – all these things should be considered.

As parents we will often have to consider acting as if we are angry as a means of curbing the behaviour of those in our care who need to be cautioned. But in this case we can feign anger and it is only a temporary tool we use to exercise our responsibility in protecting the young.

But uncontrolled violent anger as expressed in road rage, murder, assault on another person has no reason or purpose other than to yield to the destructive, dark energies of human nature.

So we must all practise controlling anger and redirecting our energies positively if we are to claim mental fitness.

Sally Janssen’s wonderful book “Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-Help Guide”, offers simple and timely solutions. Read more…

Technorati Tags: angercharacter, anxiety, Meditation, Mental Fitness, mental health, personality, relaxation, Stress