Category

empowerment

Turning the Other Cheek…

By anger, compassion, empowerment, forgiveness, stress management coaching No Comments

Last weekend I attended a fund-raising event for the local Human Society. At my table sat several distinguished people from the community. In the course of the dinner conversation, a woman at the table made a derogatory comment about what she perceived as my “liberal perspective” and set off the whole table in voter anger (note: this is not why we were there!) In stress management circles, we have an expression that says: “Respond, don’t react.” Great advice! When confronted with anger, it is best, no matter how hard, to turn the other check. Meeting anger with anger only intensifies the struggle…and no one wins. To be honest, this woman’s rude comment came out of the blue and surprised (and riled) everyone. Often when people demonstrate such uncivil behavior, it is a form of projection. Turning the other cheek is not only a metaphor to act compassionately, but to let go and NOT take on other people’s issues or problems. Turning the other cheek is another way of saying.. “take the high road!” And when all else fails, remember the expression, “He (or she) who angers you….conquers you.” Don’t give your power away today.

• Stress Tip For The Day:
Turning the other cheek means responding, not reacting to stress (either anger or fear). Turning the other cheek means taking the high road, which often translates to coming from a place of compassion rather than mirroring the inappropriate behavior coming your way. This approach takes practice, because typically, your first response is to want to put up your defenses and draw fire. As you may have guessed by now, there is a lot of anger out there, voter and otherwise. Please don’t contribute any more to it, and as a reminder, don’t made serious decisions when angry, there is only more mess to clean up later.

• Links/Books Worth Noting:
One of the best books I have come across on the topic of anger is The Dance of Anger, by Harriett Learner. Another good book on this topic is, Healing Rage by Ruth King. I highly recommend both of these books.

• Quote for the Day:
“We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.” — Abraham Lincoln

• Photo of the Day:
In the spirit of all Humane Societies trying to raise badly needed funds in these tough economic times, a photo of my dog, Logan, seemed like the most appropriate image for today’s theme.

Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D. is an internationally renowned expert in the fields of stress management, mind-body-spirit healing and stress and human spirituality. He is the author of over 10 books including the bestsellers, Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water, Stressed Is Desserts Spelled Backward, The Art of Calm, Quiet Mind, Fearless Heart and Managing Stress (6E). He can be reached through his website:www.brianlukeseaward.net

© Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D.