Enhance Your Calm

So I’ve been doing some thinking lately reflecting on a few of the things I need to work on and the common ways in which I go wrong sometimes.  And a lot of it results from me not being calm enough.  I need to be more chill.  Rather than get stirred to anger or resentment because someone disagrees with me, however rudely or passionately, getting all angsty about it is doing no one any good and it negatively affects me more than anyone else, especially when I eventually realize that that was the wrong way to handle the situation.  Basically by letting the situation handle you, you wind up suffering to some extent as a result.
And while I may not be worse than the average guy on this, there is much room for improvement.  Take the way I have criticized the general authorities at times, it’s not as if I don’t have a reason to critique, it’s that I am too harsh, too abrasive and maybe unfairly or unnecessarily accusatory.
So for that I am sorry and apologize.
And then I have thought of those whose misinterpretation of scripture to be a sign of intellect rather than perspective and faith.  This is a problem when you speak to your faith and perspective on an issue then are attacked for it.  There are many levels of going wrong in this way and I think I have but more to the point I feel like I need to be better about these faults.  To lessen them and improve upon the constructive and healthy alternatives instead is a much better way to go, my family and my friends as well as me personally would benefit from me doing so.
It does mean a lot of changes and no one can rightly fault others for erring in such a way when most of us do in one way or another.  In terms of treating someone bad are good depending on whether or not they agree with you on the things you feel are important.  We are supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves, even our enemies.
And for me it is easier for me to not just tolerate my enemies but to embrace them as I would a loved one if I am more chill about everything including how I judge other people.  Especially how I judge other people because I might not often be judgemental, when I am I am the worst of any offender.  And negative impacts will, as with any impact, ripple through people close to me to my larger area and then society in large because any effect will collect and be magnified by certain personalities.  So the way in which we treat each other does have a healthy or unhealthy affect on many, many people. 
Being chill about everything allows you to still care about what’s important without being consumed with frustration, anger or jealousy when things go wrong, for however wrong they can possibly go. 
Being chill allows you to be surrounded by negative energy without succumbing to it, without being poisoned by it.  And I think that there are various ways to go about doing just that, being more chill.  Meditation on these issues can help for many reasons and in many ways.  So can Prayer.  Very much related these two spiritual avenues lead to serenity and calmness so that you are more open to healthy constructive emotions like empathy, love, compassion.
  As a writer it is easier to criticize than to praise.  Criticism sells more.  How many personalities and authors make a living, a good or even obscenely good living criticizing the behavior, words and beliefs or opinions of others?  And how many personalities and authors make a good or even obscenely good living praising and inspiring others?
But that may also be because critiques are the longer list of the two.  So then for the sake of job security us writers may keep the approach that has kept us feed but there is a much better way of doing things than tearing people down for doing things against how you think or feel they should.  This is why being much more chill all the way around will be good for me.
I sometimes though piss people off on purpose to get them to pay closer attention to my argument because no one goes over an article with a fine tooth comb like someone who’s angry about it.  Problem is when someone gets mad they usually look for things that are wrong with it and won’t budge in their viewpoint even when confronted with plain facts.  So in the end making people angry doesn’t always work, but sometimes it does.
Take for example my reaction to this piece by Rock Waterman over at PureMormonism.blogspot.com.
As a vet in the U.S. Army infantry it infuriated me initially, I though of how wrong he was, how offensive it was because it was so critical of those in uniform and especially those whose job it is to kill, which as an infantryman is your specific job description.  Having Rock use Jesus’ words against me pissed me off!  But in the end, after listening to the counsel of Jesus I was convinced Rock’s assessment was right, he wasn’t as wrong as I wanted him to be.  He was right because in my heart of hearts I knew our Savior was right when He called us to love our neighbors as ourselves, even our enemies.  And He was right in the example of non-violence He set for us. 
By making me mad Rock made me think, and it was important I did so because it was an issue I needed help with.  Not of understanding but the change of heart needed to be the difference that is needed.  Not for the whole world but for myself and for my family and friends.
But the only thing that allowed me to read and re-read Rock’s piece was me enhancing my calm and being chill enough to read through it a 2^nd time without breaking my computer monitor with a sledge hammer. Being much more chill is what I need and I think it’s good for everyone. 
Especially since we’re coming off an election that was so charging and polarizing that some feel like they want to Secede from the union.
Part of the reason I feel that the constitution and the bill of rights was Divinely inspired is because the founding Fathers knew andfelt that if you allow people the perfect or as close as we can get to it, amount of liberty, justice and responsibility that people will by and large thrive and do better themselves than any government could ever do for them.  Liberty is key.
I want the liberty to think, feel and worship as I please and morally I have the responsibility to allow my brothers and sisters that same privilege.  All I meet, come into contact with one way or the other, and all those who read my posts must have that same right to think and feel as they please regarding any issue and I haven’t always done that but I will make more of a conscious effort to. And through my writing the way I can and should do it is by treating the beliefs or opinions of those that disagree with me with respect.