There once lived a boy who had a bad temper. He would get angry at every little thing. One day, his father gave him a bag of nails and told him, “Every time you get angry, hammer a nail into that front wall.”
And so the activity started. On the first day, the boy hammered 50 nails. The next day, he hammered 40. Each time he used to go there, he repented being angry – it was quite a challenge to hammer a nail into that damn brick wall! Slowly, he discovered that controlling anger was easier than hammering, and the number of nails hammered started going down.
Eventually, a day came when he didn’t get angry, and he felt the joy of it. Now his father gave him another task, “If you do not get angry the entire day, remove one nail from the wall.” After several days, all the nails were removed.
Now his father took him near the wall and asked him what did he see. The boy replied that he can see holes in the wall. The father then explained to his son: “These holes are like the scars that you leave on people when you get angry. No matter how many times you say sorry, the scar does not go.”
So I suggest you two things:
- Realize that words once spoken cannot come back. Your anger hurts others and leaves a sour impression that lasts forever.
- Each time you get angry, “hammer a nail”. Simplest thing you can do is to carry a pocket diary and put a line each time you get angry. Then at night, count the number of lines for that day. If you make this a habit, each time you would get angry, you would be reminded to note it down. Indirectly, you would also realize that you getting angry. And because you are conscious and aware at that time, you would find it easier to control your actions and subdue anger.
I hope the day comes soon when you don’t have any line in your diary.
