Last week we talked about carrying around excess baggage—the stuff we don’t want or need—the negative thoughts and emotions in our heads and hearts. I mentioned one of the things you can do to help yourself is to examine the negative emotions that are in your life. I hope that you found the list I prepared (taken from my book The Inside Advantage: How Ordinary People Can Accomplish Extraordinary Things).
If not, I invite you to take a look now (in last week’s Blog on my website at CWLauro.com)
Let’s continue this journey…We’ll start by taking a closer look at some of the negative emotions.
Of all of the emotions in that list, anger, guilt, and regret are among the most common. Some of this negative energy is directed at others because of what they have done to us, or for the hurtful things they have said. Understand and remember that what others do and say is a reflection of who they are, and that really has nothing to do with you. (You may be affected by the behavior of others, but their behavior is their behavior, and they are responsible for that.) Substitute anger with indifference; you will find that your enemies no longer seem to matter.
Mark Twain said, “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” Anger is certainly not something we want to store inside.
Many times we direct some of the anger inward. We hold ourselves responsible for what we call mistakes. We hold onto guilt as if we deserve to be punished forever. Do you remember the guilt-ridden smoker? We may think that we are unworthy of happiness. We have regrets about what we did, as well as what we failed to do; we feel we should have done things differently. Would anyone blame a mother whose son was killed in car accident because she said, “Yes” when asked if he could go out with his friends? We think, “If only I had …” or “If only I hadn’t …” We beat ourselves up emotionally, sometimes for the rest of our lives. We carry around that excess baggage from the past and experience life as a tremendous struggle.
To learn two useful contributions of the past, click here CWLauro.com
The above was taken from my book The Inside Advantage: How Ordinary People Can Accomplish Extraordinary Things
Thanks for joining me this week. Enjoy your moments!
Blessings, Love and Light,
Cathy
The Inside Advantage 