Anger is a Choice

Many wonderful qualities run in my family. Service, hardworking, giving, just to name a few. One less pleasant characteristic that I inherited is anger. It luckily doesn't happen that often because I prefer humor to a fight, but when arguing with my husband and I flood (a Gottman term) look out. It's like I become this vicious person I don't even know. Afterwards, which is as soon as 5 minutes later, I honestly don't know what was wrong with me. In the past my apologies have included "...but you made me so angry", or "I couldn't help yelling, I was so mad". After reading the article Agency and Anger by Elder Lynn G. Robbins, I will really try not to do that anymore. In the article Robbins talks about how Satan's goal is to destroy our families, and contention is a really great way to do that. Robbins said that Satan tries to convince us that we have no control over our emotions, but that's just not true. Goddard gave the example of how a husband and wive can be fighting and one will answer the phone and transform in to a laughing smiling person just to hang up and go right back at it. We can control ourselves, sometimes we just really don't want to.

 

I personally am going to commit this week to not be angry with my spouse. Some of the excuses I use are I'm tired, stressed, etc so this week I will go to bed at a reasonable time (even if it means not watching a tv show I've been meaning to watch), and take the time to do yoga for 20 minutes each day. In the past I have found it really helps me stay calm, and it's something I really enjoy. What is something all of you will try and do this week to be less angry with your spouse?

I choose not to be angry at these people I love the most