It’s true.  If you know me at all, you probably know I have a tendency to fly off the handle.  I am pretty quick to anger, and slow to calm down.   If you could believe it, I used to be worse.  I was quicker to anger and, once I was angry, it was more of a rage.  While I’m still working on it, I’ve learned that life is too short to be angry.

Being angry does something to your heart.  You can’t deny it.  When you’re angry, it’s hard to say things like, “Sorry..” or, “I Love You..” or, “I was wrong..”.  When you’re angry, it makes it easier to say cruel things.  It makes it easier to destroy trust.  It makes it easier to destroy relationships.  It makes it easier to hurt people you love.  Sometimes that can be undone, but you still leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth.

You can read 100 things on how not to anger, but the truth is, it has to be something inside of you.  There has to be a motivation in your heart and a decision in your brain.  Something that says, “It’s not worth it.”  I’m still working on it, every day, I’m working on it.  But I’ve gotten better and I can say, the moments when I feel like I’ve avoided anger are some of the best moments of my life.  I feel like, not only have I avoided anger, I’ve avoided hurting someone I love, I’ve avoided losing trust, I’ve avoided pain.

An old Chinese proverb says, “If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.”  5 years ago, I wouldn’t even know what that means, but today, it resonates deep in my soul.

In life, generally speaking, there is always an opportunity to learn.  I’ve lived a life of learning the hard way.  I’ve never taken the easy road, but I’ve finally gotten somewhere.  By the grace of God.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, on what I’ve learned in life so far, and I thought I’d hash out a bullet list.  From that bullet list, I plan on writing a post about each one.  We’ll see how it goes.

1. Life’s Too Short to be Angry.
2. Marry Your Best Friend.
3. With Age Comes Wisdom.
4. Never Make Assumptions.
5. Your Parents are Right A Lot of the Time.
6. Vision is Only Half the Battle.
7. Never Give Up.
8. If You’re the Smartest Person in the Room, You’re in the Wrong Room.
9. Kindness and Hard Work Will Take you Farther than Intelligence.
10. Laugh.
11. Never Detour From Your Beliefs.
12. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone.
13. Don’t Lie, Don’t Cheat, Don’t Steal.
14. In Every Battle, Arm Yourself With Love.
15. Nothing is More Important Than Family.
16. Everyone is Going Through Something.
17. Forgive. Holding a Grudge is Only Hurting You.

These are the things I try to remember every day.  These are the things that I believe have shaped who I am today.  I plan on going in to detail on each one.  What are somethings I’ve missed?