Do you still have to lose your temper? Even if you keep your anger inside, you have still lost your temper. Temper is meant to be moderate. Do you have to be irate? I will admit, beloveds, that there is enough around to stimulate your temper, but what is it, this temper you have? Do you have to have steam so you can let it off? Must you become irate because of how business is conducted in the world or because something slipped from your hand or another’s? Is the insufferable really insufferable?
Anger seems to be anger. Anger for a little thing seems to be just as great as anger for a big thing. Anger seems to have no limits. When you are angry, there is no little. You feel great cause, or you would not be angry.
If you are ever angry again, and you might even be today or tomorrow, drink some water, wash your face with cold water, and then start over. Bless the supposed cause of your anger. Bless the supposed cause and bless the people concerned. Even if they made you angry, you can bless them. Even if they gave you no peace, you can send cooling thoughts to them.
There may be no two ways about it. They did what should not have been done. They were high-handed, or unkind, or stole from you. They certainly stole your temper. More to the point, you gave it away to them. They took something away from you, your peace of mind for which you gave them a piece of your mind. You aren’t making sense, but you already know that.
Let it be love that doesn’t make sense rather than anger. You have thought you have to justify love and be cautious with it, while you are quick to flare up in anger at the drop of a hat. Now use caution with anger instead and be ready to love at a moment’s notice.
Much of the time, anger is no more than ego. You feel like you were a fool, perhaps deliberately set up, but a fool nevertheless. How wrong someone else is or was is beside the point when it’s your vanity that got piqued.
In many cases, you may say it is your money you are upset about, but it’s your vanity. You were tricked and you lost money, and now you are angry because you were tricked. You gave faith where it was not. And now you’re angry with someone else. You should have seen it coming, you say to yourself. You should never have become involved, you say. And you are red-faced.
Are you less a fool to get angry, beloveds? If a tree limb falls on you, do you chop down the tree from which the limb fell? If you stub your toe on the sidewalk, do you kick the sidewalk? Anger makes just as much sense which means it makes no sense at all. You do not have to carry anger. You don’t have to have it for one minute.
If you would prefer a life without anger, then choose it now. Choose what you prefer. Say to yourself:
“I choose to stay cool. Whatever comes my way, I will deal with it. I can deal with it without aggression. I can deal with it peacefully. I can figure out what needs to be said, and I can say it without breathing fire. I am not a dragon. I am someone who has taken offense. Whatever the reason, I have taken offense, and I will not offend myself further. I am a child of God. When I feel fire rising, I will cool down and bring myself closer to God Who loves me. His love is worth more than all the anger in the world. I choose to perceive God’s love rather than my anger. From this day forth, I will choose God’s love.”