The Sunday Mail
Chief Nechombo
My Perspective
ANGER is destructive. Most human suffering can be traced to anger.
We have fallen from glory to grave due to anger. A famous orator once said, “Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” If only people had the wisdom to deal with anger, a few would perish. How does it feel to be angry? Is it pleasant or unpleasant?
The Bible warns not go to bed angry lest we invite the devil and suffering (Ephesians 4:26). We have fallen short of blessings because of anger. The time to be happy is now. I repeat; anger is destructive.
The Oxford Dictionary defines anger as a strong feeling against someone who has behaved badly, evoking one to shout or hurt them. The knowledge of anger does not help much, but the wisdom about anger delivers people.
Anger is a negative motivator which has made man to commit all kinds of sins; hatred, killing, drug abuse, jealous, adultery, theft, dishonest, etc.
Unresolved anger can also lead man to physical health problems like backache, hypertension, skin disorder, stroke, insomnia, etc. It can also cause depression, alcohol abuse, self-injury, eating disorders, drug abuse, and low self-esteem.
For one to conquer anger, it begins by understanding what anger is and more importantly, knowing how it develops. Anger is not an event. No one can just be an angry man. It is a process of negative thoughts and building them up in the mind. It is an internal self-destructive process which manifests after continuous poisonous thoughts.
The conscious mind makes a choice between good and bad then chooses negative thoughts which build up a strong hold in the mind. As the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7). The anger process works like an animal chewing cud. When keeping a record of wrongs, one holds a stockpile of negatives. In order for all these negatives to stay in the present, they require ruminating. Ruminate can loosely translate to “going over in the mind repeatedly”.
When ruminating in the mind on all wrongs (negative thoughts), one is acting like a cow chewing cud. (“Controlling Your Anger,” Gregory Jantz, 2013). Think good and good will follow you. If you choose to have positive thoughts that is, compassionate thoughts, thoughts of love and giving — the end result is peace of mind which amounts to happiness. Happiness is the healthiest state which everyone aspires to achieve. The choice of negative thoughts is the source of all anger. Anger is a product of practice.
There are people who are bitter about everything. They are angry with their children, parents, husbands, wives and relatives. They are angry with everyone in church and at work.
Imagine that there are people who go to the extent of self-destruction by keeping diaries with records of wrong and records of people who have wronged them. What do you wish to achieve by keeping such records? The Bible says, love does not keep any record of wrong.
There are people who find it difficult to see any good in other people. “When you think everything is someone else’s fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realise that everything springs from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy.” His Holiness, the 114 Dalai Lama.
Anger can be conquered
Whatever can be encoded in our minds can be decoded. The Bible in Romans 12:2 says we can be transformed by the renewal of our minds. The process of transforming yourself from anger to happiness is similar to building up anger. It is a process and not an event.
The wisdom keys below can help us conquer anger and produce a happy life. Anger is the devil’s strategy to destroy man. An angry man is a blind man. The wisdom keys below shall extinguish anger and restore our sight.
Wisdom Key 1: Stop, think, control
Anger destroys our sense of judgment, reasoning and thinking. When we are angry, we tend to use emotions instead of reasoning. Anger impairs one’s ability to process information and exert cognitive control over emotions. Out of anger, we have done regrettable, irreparable acts.
Some killed and rotting in jail
Some hurt, turned away, divorced and forsaken beloved ones
Some committed suicide and are no more
Others have been involved accidents, injured themselves and damaged properties
Some resorted used drugs, falling from glory to dust.
The above regrettable acts can be avoided if we practise these simple steps: stop, think, control. Whenever we are about to develop anger, the first step is to stop thinking or entertaining any form of negative thoughts.
The second step is to use the mind to think about the situation at hand, which will lead to the third step of controlling ourselves and avoiding emotions. Behaviour born out of emotions is usually regrettable.
Chief Nechombo (Mr Langton Chikukwa) presides over the Mutoko area.
