I remember once watching an interview of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the interviewer said, “You were twenty-four when you fled from your country and became a refugee. You haven’t been able to go back. You’ve overseen establishing a government in exile. You’ve watched genocide in your country. You’ve watched ecological devastation in your country. How come you aren’t angry at the Communist Chinese?” And His Holiness replied, “If I were angry, I couldn’t sleep well, I couldn’t eat well, I’d be totally miserable, and what good would it do?” 

The interviewer was looking at His Holiness like he had never heard somebody say, “I’m not going to be angry at something like that happening.” Because if you had said the same thing to any other world leader or a terrorist, that person would have taken the ball and run with it, “Yes! They did this, and they did that, and we hate them, and we want revenge, and we’re going to destroy them!” 

His Holiness basically said being angry is useless; it does not change anything. I think that is powerful. When we are holding a grudge or when we are beating ourselves up, we are the ones who suffer, and yet all we want is to be happy. Let us allow ourselves to be happy by offering forgiveness to others and ourselves. 

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!