Gone In Sixty Seconds

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Did you realize that you have a higher chance of getting injured when you are angry. In fact, a study published in the "Annals of Family Medicine" suggests that your chances are quadrupled when angry. You can see the story in a USA Today article. But what is anger?

Anger is "an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage," according to Charles Spielberger, PhD, a psychologist who specializes in the study of anger. But I'm not here to talk about anger itself and again, you can read about it at Controlling Anger -- Before It Controls You.

What I am here to say is that for every minute you are angry, you lose those sixty seconds of happiness that Emerson talks of. Anger may release stress, but happiness will produce results more often. Happiness can create greater self-esteem in oneself.

Low self-esteem plagues many outwardly successful people (Self-Esteem: Paradoxes and Innovations in Clinical Theory and Practice by Richard L. Bednar and Scott R. Peterson). There is disagreement about the overall benefits of a high self-esteem. But many do believe it makes us more confident.

"Definitions of self-esteem vary...but all agree that high self-esteem means that we appreciate ourselves and our personal worth. More specifically, it means:

we have a positive attitude
we value ourselves highly
we're convinced of our own abilities
we see ourselves as competent, in control of our own lives and able to do what we want"

-From the BBC Health website.

Regardless of the clinical theory, feeling happy makes us feel better and we tend to have a better life. Being angry takes away from those happy times. Don't lose one minute of happiness.