What happens when someone flips you off on the road? Why not let your anger ruminate?
Talking Points:
- Be slow to get angry. If you blurt out the first thing you think when anger arises, you will end up saying something you regret.
- When you say negative things to someone, their first response is often to fight or to flee. This is just going to put you in a never-ending argument about who is wrong, or to cause the relationship to shut down.
- Ruminating on your anger can even be detrimental to your health. People who harbor anger are more likely to have heart attacks. So, not only will anger harm you mentally, but it can also harm you physically.
Discussion:
- Initial reactions to this topic? What jumped out at you?
- What does it mean to be “slow to anger?” On a scale of 1-10, how good are you at it?
- What is it that we really want when we are angry? How does our anger betray our true intention and work against achieving what we really want?
- What was the last thing you ruminated on? How long did it take for you to spit out the cud and move on? What happened that made you realize you were wasting time dwelling on the circumstance that caused you to be angry?
- Do you know someone who ruminates in their anger? How successful in their careers are they compared to others? How happy do they seem compared to others? How can we avoid this pattern in the future?
- Is anger a choice? Why or why not? How much does feeling angry has to do with self-control? What is your most common reflexive behavior when something makes you angry?
- Is there a step you need to take based on today’s topic?
