Today, I was given the finger by someone while driving to work
Nine times out of ten, this situation would elicit anger and give a bitter start to my day. I'd likely become passive aggressive, slowing down to a crawl to piss them off more, or if I didn't respond to them directly I'd be ruminating about what an asshole they were.
But today was different. Instead of reacting negatively, I decided to take a few breaths and attempt to empathize with their situation. Maybe they were late for work and took out their frustration on me. Perhaps they were going through a rough period in their life, and my act of changing lanes in front of them (I wasn't close to cutting them off, fyi) was just a further development in their downward spiral.
Or perhaps they are actually just a bitter individual incapable of dealing with their own life and they're very quick to give the finger to anyone who gets in their way. Whatever the reason, I decided to let the situation be what it was and not add any judgment on top of it.
Empower your response
I write frequently about how free will is our ability to choose our response to what happens in life. Admittedly, I still have my difficulties with not feeding my emotions and reacting unconsciously to my own detriment. But overcoming a reactionary mindset requires constant attention, patience, and persistence in order to achieve a sense of behavior change.
Today was a small victory over the reactionary mind, as I was able to drop the desire to respond with negativity and my day was better for it. All actions, no matter how insignificant they appear in the moment, have the power to lead to major shifts in perspective. This instance will now become a useful and powerful reminder whenever another situation such as this arises.
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
Our ego often wants us to hold onto anger, believing furious passion is justified and will help remediate the situation. I'm not one to suggest that suppressing anger is the answer, nor that anger should be shunned at all costs, as this is unrealistic and can be damaging to one's psyche.
Intense anger needs to be expressed and understood in healthy productive ways that resolve whatever led to the emotion. But in situations where anger is completely counterproductive and destructive to our mental well-being, it's best to find ways to not feed this emotion.
In the aforementioned scenario, would having contempt for the person that gave me the finger have done me any good? Of course not. If I had responded back with some time of gesture or angry response, would they have realized they were in the wrong? Nope. The only result would be that I'd start my day irritated and disempowered, again reminded of how powerful my emotions can have over my overall mindset.
Letting go of anger is a difficult process, but in almost every situation it's better than the alternative.
All uncredited pictures from pixabay.com or my personal account
If you received value from this post, I would gratefully appreciate your upvote
My Latest Posts
- Romanticizing the Country Life as a City Boy
- Order Out of Chaos: Applying this Occult Principle
- The Significance of Synchronicity
- Forced Education: A Recipe for Not Learning
- My Response to Writer’s Block
Classic Hits
- Can Oneness and Separation Co-Exist?
- Applying the George Costanza Philosophy
- Against the Grain: 30 Days on the Paleo Diet
- The Compartmentalization of the Mind
- Why I no Longer Use Facebook as my Primary Social Media
r