I had and acquaintance of mine "un-friend" me from Facebook recently for making a statement about how we so easily stay angry at the world because of past hurts. I don't blame this person though.

Most of us have issues from our past that we have not adequately dealt with. Consequently the feelings these past issues invoke in us results in us this constant sense of irritation and intolerance for people around us who might not feel as we do. This is understandable. I often have to force myself to celebrate and not be irritated with my colleagues because of a big deal they have secured while I need to scrape my morsels together to make my sales look half decent. This is probably due to me not always considering myself a success and often fail miserably!

The fact remains, if we would like a life of contentment and a healthy dose of happiness we need to address our "angry issues". How to do that? I have no idea really but my wife Erika did give me some advise once which helped me tremendously forgive my father for a couple of silly things I held against him:

• Go to a quiet place alone where you will not be disturbed.
• Think now about the incident or issue not dealt with.
• Describe exactly to yourself what the emotions this incident conjures up within you
• Allow yourself now to feel these emotions (if you have to cry, then cry)
• Once the emotion has abated, reflect on the effect it has had

When I go back to the incident after a while I feel the emotion not as strong any longer. Consequently it will not affect my general demeanor as much. I do not advise this process for every hurt you might have had in your past but it did help me. I hope it can be of help to you!