Are You A Calm Person?

Glorious morning!

Today's chosen quote was inspired by an actual small exchange the other day with a family member. First, who the who’s and what’s. Who? Sathya Sai Baba, What? His quote,

“ One’s anger is one’s greatest enemy and one’s calmness is one’s protection “

.

Who is the man behind this quote? Sathya Sai Baba was born in 1926 and died in 2011. He was born in India into a family of musicians. As a child he was described as being unusually intelligent, and charitable. His intelligence was not necessarily academic in nature but of the spiritual.  He eventually told his parents that he was here on earth with a mission to re-establish the principle of righteousness. To motivate love for God and service to fellow man.

What this quote says to me is, anger is a harmful emotion that is not only abusive when projected outward towards the one receiving it, but even more harmful to the one expressing it. Anger is part of the gamut of human emotions, but definitely one of the most damaging ones of all in my opinion.  They fall into the same category as fear when chemicals or hormones are being released in the body. When we get angry it sends and transmits to our muscles and organs. It gets our body prepared to confront what we are facing. In other words, our physical body responds after the mental thoughts that triggered the anger or fear response in us.

In some cases anger and fear can serve us well and encourages us to stand up and protect ourselves in threatening situations. That one is a slippery slope because anger can beget anger. We can use the anger to defend ourselves without the anger going back to the person and instead use your anger to motivate a neutral response that brings a peaceful resolution. When we let our anger run the show is when things escalate and we cause harm to yourself and others. Why? Because the anger response releases a hormone called Epinephrine. Epinephrine is also known as adrenaline and it is a neurotransmitter. It sends signals to our nervous system and helps regulate our heart rate and blood pressure, when we are in a heightened response to anger or fear. When we have a rush of Epinephrine it elevates our breathing rate, it elevates our heart rate,there is increased blood flow to the brain, heart and skeletal muscles. It increases blood pressure and pupil dilation and can produce sweating. Those reactions in the body are designed to assist us in dangerous situations like swerving to avoid a potential head on collision and fighting off a potential physical attack.

But when we trigger the anger response in regular day to day exchanges with people, it's unnecessary and having the anger response over and over is extremely taxing on the body and eventually becomes abusive to your nervous system and muscular system. I feel anger and stress cause high blood pressure. I also feel anger erodes relationships and abuses our loved ones when it's projected on them. It's a smart idea to be in control of our emotions and allow them to be indicators not dominators. When we respond to daily challenges in a calm manner it gives us the ability to keep those potentially harmful hormones at bay. When we are always calm we can be  more in control of what happens to our bodies. When we are calm we can respond to our loved ones in ways that bring peaceful resolution instead of hurtful attacks.

Just recently I was involved in a group text and a family member did not communicate clearly the request he had for everyone ( I’m sure you know how misconstrued texting can be ) and I responded with an innocent solution with some information that I shouldn't have put in the text. I totally read his request wrong. Well the response I got from him in a personal one on one text shortly after from him was not nice. The old me would have blasted him right back and it would have escalated and caused unnecessary grief going forward. Instead, I said I refuse to engage with abusive behavior and left it at that. I left him with his own angry mess that I didn't not encourage or participate in and later that day he sent a text apologizing. Calmness certainly is our protection. It facilitates peace and our bodies thrive in that state and so do our relationships.

Do you fly off the handle at the slightest imperfections in this life? Do you react with angry responses often? I can help bring clarity to why. Make a free discovery call today. Peace be with you, Dawn

Discovery Call

Book Now