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From fear to anger
Anger has many forms and many causes, but it has its
root in fear. One is angry because one fears bodily harm or injury to material interest or deprivation of some enjoyed blessing, or injury to reputation or friendship through something that some one has said or done.
Self-control is of course the preventive of anger. Logic and deliberation in judging of incidents and their effect on one are conducive to self-control. A common excitant to anger is an epithet, the calling of a name. Think just what this is, and you must decide that it is silly to lose one's temper over it.
You are angry really because you are afraid somebody may believe the characterization is true. Were you absolutely sure of yourself and your reputation, the epithet would have no more effect than the barking of a dog, or a word in some foreign language that you did not understand. It has no real effect at all, except what you allow to have in your own mind. It does not alter the facts in the case, in the least.
Whatever the cause of anger, it will usually be found to be trivial. A proof is that quick tempered people are always apologizing the next day, when the matter looks very different. Cultivate the habit of forming this "to-morrow" judgement today, and your angry explosions will be reduced to a minimum. Cultivate optimism in general, and particularly the love-thought, toward all people with whom you come in contact, and you will soon find it hard to be angry with any of them.
Orison Swett Marden
