When is the last time you were really angry? Can you remember what it felt like I can. My heart rate picked up. My temperature rose. I felt incredibly focused on doing harm to the person I was mad at. Anger is a really strong emotion, but the thing we forget sometimes is that it goes away, in most cases, almost as quickly as it comes. The times when that is not the case are when we take the anger inside and revisit it over and over again. Then it’s called resentment, which means in French, “feeling again.” There isn’t a person in this building who hasn’t been angry, sometimes really angry, at another person. It’s natural. It’s part of the “fight or flight,” defense mechanism that is a part of us all. The trick to growing up is to deal with anger in a positive way. Don’t feed your anger. Don’t sit there and brood about what you want to do to that nasty mean so-and-so that did you wrong. You may have a right to be angry, but realize what Confucius said, “When anger rises, think of the consequences.” My personal experience with anger is that I need to feel it for a while, but, at some point, I need to let it go. What do I put in in its place? Joan Lunden said it really well in Healthy Living Magazine. “Holding on to anger, resentment and hurt only gives you tense muscles, a headache and a sore jaw from clenching your teeth. Forgiveness gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life.” Forgiving the person you’re mad at is the best gift you can give to yourself.