Here’s a beautiful story coming from the land of India that points out to what happens to our hearts when we are angry, teaching a powerful lesson on how to deal with others when we find ourselves in the wild current of anger:

A Hindu saint who was visiting river Ganges to take a bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other.

He turned to his disciples, smiled and asked.

“Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?”

The disciples thought for a while, and one of them said, “Because we lose our calm, we shout.”

Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?

“But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner,” asked the saint.

The disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples.

Finally the saint explained,

“When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance.

The distance between hearts

What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small…”

The saint continued,

“When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.”

They need not whisper

When in anger, remember not to utter words that will distance you from others more. Realize the power of words and the importance of healthy, heart-to-heart communication, before you harm others and ultimately hurt yourself.

Story credit: unknown