Anger is like drinking poison and then waiting for the other person to die.
Is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at another- we are the one who ends up being burned.
In life we know that it
Gives us wrinkles.
And still...often we persist in walking around burnt to a crisp...waiting for the other guy to die...and wrinkled.
Go figure.
No matter what the occasion from being cut off in traffic, an intentional slight, or a betrayal or injury what we must remember is that we control nothing but our reaction to the situation.
A Zen Koan tells us of two Buddhist monks walking after a rainstorm. When they reach the creek a beautiful woman is standing at the washed away footbridge in tears.
Without hesitation the elder monk picks the woman up and carries her through the waist-deep water...gently lowering her to the ground on the other side...then continues along the way.
As the two monks proceed along the path...the younger becomes more and more agitated...finally in his frustration he spat at the older monk
"We are not even suppose to gaze upon a woman...yet you actually picked that beautiful woman up and carried her across the creek."
"This is true" replied the elder "And yet when I came to the other side...I sat her down. Why are you still carrying her?"
So many travel through life collecting every slight, hurt, injustice as they go along.
We recognize them by the way they wander through...leaving their tales of life's unfairness like a trail of garbage in their wake to all who will willingly (or unwillingly) listen.
For the record. Fair is a place you get cotton-candy, caramel apples and elephant ears.
Life is neither fair or unfair. Life is indifferent. It is how we perceive our circumstances.
Our attitude.
Our responses.
In short, our life is exactly what we make it.
Life can resemble the old woman from The Labyrinth bent and cluttered with a collection of everything she has encountered-
Or we can envision one by one laying our burdens down.
The Buddha said "Every day is a new beginning. Every day we are reborn."
Today ask yourself
"What am I STILL carrying?"
