Sunday, January 4, 2015

Emotional Contagion

This  might sound ridiculous but the other day I got angry that two of my friends were angry at each other. I was only a casual onlooker to the altercation, and it was over something totally inane.

I got angry because what they were angry about was so trivial, so stupidly egotistical, and most of all unnecessary.

Then again, what was I thinking to carry that poisonous feeling for three days?

Anger is contagious. Someone may not vomit their emotional dross on you directly but the stench pervades the space around it. It now makes perfect sense how wars start. It begins with petty emotions that are not checked but rather fanned into larger and larger flames until a conflagration is upon an entire society.

So today I will put on my anti-anger shield - compassion and forgiveness - and mind my own spiritual business!

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