Managing Frustration
One of the most important skills in today's world is having good stress management. A part of that skill is the managing of frustration. Our frustration grows gradually. Like stress, we have more of it than we are aware.
Some of our frustration is spilling over from the whole. As we see injustices done without appropriate response, as we see society becoming less concerned about the welfare of others that frustration comes to a boiling point. It seems reasonable in a society where our elders, young and those dealing with illness are of little value. I have seen people act out to individuals in each of these groups with an absolute lack of care or respect.
What does it do to a person to swear at the elderly, or to treat a child with no care at all? It causes a person to become callous . This insensitivity is not just to others, but to their own self. When we victimize others we victimize ourselves. They become warped versions of themselves, who think that hate is love and fear is courage.
Our frustration becomes an antagonist to the world around us, finding enemies everywhere we go. It morphs into irritability that attacks those that we love, and to self righteousness that would look for a vigilante frontier justice. Frustration in this state becomes vindictive.
Regardless of what is in your environment it is crucial to begin to manage your frustration, finding ways to shrink it. If you do not actively reduce it will grow out of control and overwhelm your relationship to love.
Frustration is like a toothache that we find ourselves pressing with our tongue. Toxic frustration can change our DNA, and the seduction of being frustrated is an intoxicant. We must learn to resist the urge to over indulge. To re- sist is re, or to do again, and sist, which is to summon. To resist is to call one’s self back to oneself. Resist frustration by not basing yourself in it, be aware when you are adding to pain with suffering, not just your own, but to the intoxication of the broader society as well. To be intoxicated is to be toxic, and frustration makes us toxic.
Frustration is the very essence of not being in the moment. It is always about the past, even when it makes us fear the future. Treat it as its own dilemma, and not one and the same as the frustrating situation. Learning to be less frustrated does not mean you will be less committed to justice. It will give greater clarity and the remembrance that the solution is found in the present, right here, right now.
In its proper light it is a signal to act. Popping the bubble of frustration reveals options we are missing. We are blessed and we are a blessing. Knowing that changes everything.