It has been known for a good long while that hostility compromises the immune system. According to Mimi O’Connor (Dispel Hostility, Improve Your Health):
Hostility results from unchecked, unexamined anger. It involves the toxic harboring and projection of angry thoughts, feelings and actions that result from a combination of protracted fear, judgment, defensiveness, cynicism and aggression. Hostility contributes not only to physical illness, but also to the deterioration and destruction of relationships.
In his book Anger Kills, Dr. Redford Williams clarifies that of the several components of the Type A behavior pattern (the kind exhibited by people who are tense, driven, competitive and hostile), it’s hostility that is most highly correlated with cardiovascular disease. It is important to note the distinction between experiencing anger, which is a normal emotion, and fostering hostility.
We have heard the jokes about resentment being like eating rat poison expecting the rat to die. Type A personalities are prone to holding onto anger, but even the most high-strung individuals can learn to understand anger and respond to it constructively, avoiding the health damages of hostility. Consider this grounding visualization from Madisyn Taylor (Daily OM):
A healthy way of purging our anger from our bodies is to give it to Mother Earth. We can imagine ourselves being grounded as the electrical energy passes from us into Mother Earth below. We can see that energy go straight to the earth’s core where it becomes part of the continuous growth process of our planet and is transformed from negative to positive, from dark to light. When we choose to give our anger to the earth, we trust our connection with the natural world we live in and the great universe that fuels it all. Mother Earth will lovingly transform your anger into light so no need to feel guilty about unloading to her.
We can make this offering of our energy from any location, whether many stories up or on a ship at sea. We know the earth is below us, supporting us and sustaining us.
You can count to ten, take three deep breaths, or just flick your fingertips. Wash your hands and imagine the anger just going down the drain. Chew some bubble gum and as you pop a bubble, feel the anger being dissipated. Write the issue on a piece of paper and toss it into the trash. The important thing is not how you release the energy, but that you are able to release the emotion quickly and easily.
This week, make a point of noticing any anger you encounter. Be glad you are aware, release it, and let yourself appreciate being healthier for having done so.
Tips from 5 April 2010 to 6 August 2012 are here: Archived Tips
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Rev.Debra Basham
Voice or text: (269) 921-2217 Email: debra@scs-matters.com https://scs-matters.com http://ImagineHealing.info http://SurgicalSupport.info Small Changes … Infinite Results™
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” ~ Mother Teresa |