The National Institutes of Health have posted the following information in the 'Yoga' journal:

People who experience a good deal of hostility and impatience may have a higher risk of developing hypertension.

Health researchers at several universities and medical centers followed more than 3000 men and women ages 18 to 30 for 15 years, conducting regular physical examinations and studying responses on self- administered psychosocial questionnaires.

The study found that competitiveness, depression, and anxiety do not affect hypertension risk. But those who scored high on evaluations of impatience and hostility had an 84% greater chance of developing the condition, which can lead to heart disease, kidney disease, and congestive heart failure.
***********************************************

The greatest protection in all the world is lovingkindness.

~Buddha

Thank you dear Inda for this information.

Impatience! Wow I must be careful then! Hostility is not in my nature thanks to God.

Loving kindness, YES!

We see this loving kindness on faces of very old people, who have aged well. The first quality they display is just this, serenity.

We can do something surely to avoid these obstacles to serene aging.

Have a beautiful week-end!

Oh .... on chopra on my post "Archangel Michael" I actually reported a "message" I received and .... it says "Be patient ...". Oh my, and now you here with this message....

Thank you again!
Love, Margherita

****************

Inda,
Thank you for sharing this.
Love,
Angela

Hahaha...thank you Inda,
I have to watch my temper

Gisele

Thank you for sharing.
I sometimes,(often) am impatient, I better watch it.

Sue

Thank you Inda.
This is valuable information.
We should always stay calm and encourage kind feelings and thoughts.

Vicky

Thank you Everyone.
I must admit that quite often I want to lose my patience. Then I am reminded of Buddha's words:

~Knowing life is short, how can we quarrel

Hi Inda. Hi Margherita.

It's good information. Additionally since we are human and will doubtless be angry and impatient from time to time, it's helpful to know how to deal not just with anger but with any of the hindrances.

In any event it helps to go beyond any problem to a solution. Seeing a problem is half of it.

The Mahayana Buddhists speak of Pride Anger Lust Jealousy and Stupidity.

I always felt that there is an overlap between all of those conditions. They compare to the seven deadly sins too. Evil is evil. And it's in the mind of the beholder too. Can we not over eat and enjoy it? Once or twice maybe. . .

I like the Theravadin Buddhist Five Hindrances for something a bit more specific:

They are Sense Craving, Flurry and Worry, Ill will or resentment (anger and impatience if you like), Sloth or torpor, and Skeptical Doubt.

Meditation Master Chao Khun (Dear friend in Thai) Dhiravamsa uses the metaphor of the mind as a reflecting pool - in the case of the first four hindrances. Sense craving is like a pool stained with a colored dye, so that the mind sees the color and not the reflection. In the case of Ill Will or Resentment the pool is heated to a boil. And when we worry it is like a wind causing ripples. If we feel we have no energy and cannot move, it is a though the reflecting pool has become covered with water weeds, plants, and algae.

Skeptical Doubt the last hindrance is distinguished from Skepticism which is seen as something positive leading us to investigate and seek the truth. But skeptical doubt is an innate bias. Maybe someone might think the whole subject of meditation is dry and boring and that all these metaphors are silly and irrelevant. It could make it hard to get much from meditation or to sit and watch the breathing or to chant or do yoga tai chi or other meditative practices.

Dhiravamsa suggests that the best way to eliminate the hindrances within one's own mind is simply to acknowledge them as they arise.

To simply state that anger isn't good for us is not enough. When it arises you have to look to the root cause of it and understand how it arises and how it came to be. At that point by meditating on loving kindness we can overcome it.

For worry he says the best way to eliminate it is to think about what good it does you. You can stop worry and consider that it may take a while to gain an insight and to form a plan. But worrying never helps.

But the hindrances that we have on our individual paths can't be eliminated simply seeing them as "evil" or something to be shunned or avoided. The point of meditation is to work on ourselves, not to tell others how to behave.

If someone is upset or out of balance the best thing to do often is nothing more than continuing to work on ourselves - and to try to be kind to our fellow beings including our animal friends who can sometimes find things less than satisfactory to.

Some of my favorite animal friends are humans lest we forget that we are. And we all crave - to become - to unbecome - and to have all sorts of fine things.

Acknowledge and reflect. Most importantly acknowledge, because I know I'm not a saint yet . We're all in this together. And we're not always one big happy family.

Self work. Yep!

In the case of Sloth or Torpor - realizing that the feeling of paralisis is but a preconceived idea - perhaps born of fear or habit. Again - acknowledging it is a good place to begin.

I'd want to get rid of the algae and muck but a leave a lotus or two in my reflecting pool.

And for Passover I would expect my reflecting pool to part and allow me to flee from all the imaginary enemies I might be mad at. . .

And I'd want to leave the watercress too.

L'chayyam.

And Hi Vicky, Sue and Giselle.

quote:

---

Originally posted by yogionefromobie:

To simply state that anger isn't good for us is not enough. When it arises you have to look to the root cause of it and understand how it arises and how it came to be. At that point by meditating on loving kindness we can overcome it.

---

You said it bud, unravel it, lay it out in it's roots and figure out how to help it need not arise. Yea!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Inda:
The greatest protection in all the world is lovingkindness.

Buddha

---

Inda the helpful Dr! Amen to that medication there.. aaahhh

42 massograms of lovingkindness for him!

Take 2 lovingkindnesses and call me in the morning.. he he..

Wonderful post, and thread. Yous all are funny!!!

May inhostility and patience reign. Amen. And so it is. Love n light, Teo

Hi yogionefromobie.

Vicky

And a "HI" to you yogionefromobie

Gisele

Today I am going to be calm and patient.
Have a nice day everyone.

Love
Vicky