How often do you find yourself getting angry or upset about the same things?

For you, the culprits might be traffic, the weather, or some other irritation. But the one almost everyone has in common is other people.

How many of these things do you think you can change?

Rationally speaking, you know that traffic and weather are out of your control. You can prepare for traffic by leaving more time for a commute and as for the weather. Nowadays, there’s a technology that can provide you with a ten-day forecast, hopefully giving you enough time to adjust your plans accordingly.

But what about other people?

What can you do to control or prepare for them?

If you’ve been around people long enough, then you know that there’s very little you can do to control them. Unless, of course, you’ve learned the art of hypnosis. If not, then you’re like the rest of us, which means that the only person you can control is yourself.

The key to self-control is the ability to change your perspective. It’s the ability to view people and situations through a different lens. You see, when you find yourself getting aggravated over the same things repeatedly, then you’ve fallen into a pattern of behavior. The good news is that you can undo the pattern. The bad news is that you must want to and rarely is it easy to do so.

But if you don’t change then, as the wise ones have succinctly said, insanity is inflexibly doing the same thing over and over while hoping for different results.

Now I’m not going to say that your insane, but if you’re constantly angry, aggravated, or upset over the actions of others, then, well, let me say that it might be time for some self-reflection.

The fact is that you understand that the common denominator underlying all your emotions is you: no one or nothing else. While external factors do exist, all they are is the stimulus. How you respond is ultimately up to you.

So, when you find yourself being repeatedly affected negatively by an event or person, instead of focusing on what’s going on externally, turn inward. When possible, extract yourself from the situation. But if that’s not possible, then to prove that you’re not insane, learn to change your perspective.

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