Is Anger Healthy or Unhealthy?

I have been wrestling with this question lately. Yes, that's where I am right now in the process of my healing. Everyone keeps cautioning me that I'm too nice...let the anger run its course...don't supress the anger...

So, I did a little research. Here's some words I found meaningful:

As I mentioned in a previous post, anger has its roots in fear. When expressing it, many are covering up the deeper rooted emotion of fear. But we have to look inside, a scary thing, to figure out what we are afraid of.

Here's a positive spin. Anger can be an excellent way to eliminate stress, get hidden agendas out in the open, vent feelings of discouragement, pain, grief or just old-fashioned frustration. Holding back on these causes stress and too numerous to mention emotional and physical ailments. The flip-side to this issue is the damage caused in the heat of the moment, words we cannot take back, pain we've caused another. Be aware that sometimes these words are a direct reflection of our own unresolved stuff!

One other aspect of anger, or any emotion that we need to get into the open, is that when we are angry we are actually giving power over our own emotions to someone or something else. Yikes! Not very liberating!

So, I go back to the breath. We all can feel anger building. Notice it, don't judge it, breathe, acknowledge it.

Journal about it. Write a letter that you never intend to send. Call a friend. Get back to nature. Throw glass at the recycle center. But don't supress it and pretend it's not real. Start asking yourself some pretty deep questions. Tune in. You're beautiful just the way you are!

From Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch

"You are in the process of experiencing yourself by creating yourself anew in every single moment. Life will take off for you, then, when you choose for it to...All you see in your world is the outcome of your idea about it."

Smile! Laughter! Fun!

Here's a fact that EVERYONE should know: It takes 12 facial muscles to smile and 11 to frown. Despite the fact that smiling uses more muscles, it takes less effort than frowning; people tend to smile more frequently, so the relevant muscles are in better shape!

A smile and laughter just make your day sparkle, don't they? I'm trying to remind my students in cycle class to smile! Yes, I remind them, the hard work is uncomfortable, but aren't we here on this planet to have fun? Doesn't it feel good to sweat, get fit, see progress? Isn't that fun? You know, I quit racing triathlon last year because I just wasn't having fun anymore. I was too serious (ego), too regimented, too forced.

Smile at at least 3 people tomorrow, not including yourself! Really, don't take yourself so seriously...nobody else does!

“When you have a rainbow deep down in your heart, your smile will shine bright."~unknown

Yoga and Meditation

Yoga has changed my life; well, actually, I have changed my life through what I have learned by doing yoga and meditation. I am forever grateful to the amazing teachers that have impacted my life: Tunde, Stephen, Trista, Valerie, and of course Richii Jai.

I am reciting from Yoga: Discipline of Freedom, The Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali Translated by Barbara Stoler Miller. "At the heart of all meditative practice in Asia is what Indians call yoga, the system that 'yokes' one's consciousness to a spiritually liberating discipline. In his Yoga Sutra the ancient Indian philosopher Patanjali presents us with the possiblity of complete psychological transformation through the discipline of yoga." RIGHT ON, Patanjali!!! I am a living, breathing example of this transformation! Of course that transformation is still a work-in-progress, but I can't imagine where I would be in my life right now, at this very beautiful, precious moment without my yoga practice and teachers. (they remind me always, it's yoga PRACTICE, not yoga PERFECT...metaphor for life???)

Friendship

I had four of my dearest friends over to my new home for dinner last night, in appreciation for the amazing women that they are and all that they have done for me and Lily in the last 9 months. And I plan to do it more often. I have so many wonderful friends, I could have filled a house 4 times the size of my small, quaint apartment. I thank God every day for this blessing.

These four women light up the room when they enter. They give of themselves without asking for anything in return. They listen, truly listen, and offer advice when appropriate. They lead busy lives, raising children, earning a living, and still finding the time to be amazing friends to those they love. I've realized over the last several months how important it is to nurture friendships. I've learned so much from all the strong, yet soft, compassionate women in my life.

Did you know if you lay on your back and place one hand on your belly and one on your heart you're tapping into the third and fourth chakras, balancing strength (belly) and compassion (heart)? Yin/Yang, my friends. As women, we need to find that balance.

"A friend gives hope when life is low. A friend is a place when you have nowhere to go. A friend is honest. A friend is true. A friend is precious, and that, my friend, is you."

Change=Growth...Growth=Change

One of my favorite yoga instructors wrote that on her FB page recently. It really got me thinking about the meaning of those two words used interchangeably in such a fashion.

I've written before that the only constant is change...the seasons change, our faces change as we look in the mirror, our moods change, our relationships change, our children change. You get the picture. As we honestly look at the changes occurring or that have occurred in our lives, haven't we grown in some way, shape or form? Even if the change is/was painful, didn't we learn something about ourselves, our habits, our weaknesses, our strengths?

And as we grew through these challenges and lessons, didn't we change? Aren't we different, even in some small way? Aren't we more loving, compassionate, patient, accepting, wiser?

"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom"~ Anais Nin