Thrusday Evening Ponderables

“Whenever the energy of anger comes up, we often want to express it to punish the person whom we believe to be the source of our suffering.  This is the habit energy in us.  When we suffer, we always blame the other person for having made us suffer.  We do not realize that anger is, first of all, our business.  We are primarily responsible for our anger, but we believe very naively that if we can say something or do something to punish the other person, we will suffer less.  This kind of belief should be uprooted.  Because whatever you do or say in a state of anger will only cause more damage in the relationship.  Instead, we should try not to do anything or say anything when we are angry.”

--Thich Nhat Hanh
“Consider it: every person you have ever met, every person will suffer the loss of his friends and family.  All are going to lose everything they love in this world.  Why would one want to be anything but kind to them in the meantime?”

--Sam Harris