Today's Thought - October

[bluidkiti]

October 15

When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.

~Mark Twain

Feelings of anger are a knotty problem for many men. Some of us as children were injured or so frightened by an angry adult that we have instinctively avoided anger ever since. Or we have been appalled by ourselves when we lost control of our anger. Still, we are taught that it is masculine to be aggressive. Some of us have tried so hard to squelch our anger that we don't even know when we feel it. We treat anger like a rejected child - once rejected, we no longer have good discipline over it. So it comes out in hurtful jokes and sarcastic comments, or it bursts out of us in scary and destructive ways.

For some of us, overcontrolled anger turns inward against ourselves. We get physically ill or depressed and self-hating. Every recovering man needs an honest relationship with his anger. We must acknowledge this feeling within us when it is there. It is healthy to express anger directly, honestly, and respectfully.

Thanks to God for the richness of my emotional life. Today, I will notice my feelings of anger and accept them so I can learn to relate to them.

Today's reading is from the book Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men*