September 29th, 2010 
Nyomi Graef 
This week it was reported in the news that the Australian police said they believed a road rage incident and the stabbing of two men in Sydney’s south-west are related. Road rage incidents like this are common around the world, and are increasing as the number of cars on the road increases each year. To make matters worse, more cars means more bad drivers. The insurance company AAMI said Australian drivers are becoming more selfish, aggressive and dangerous.
Road rage can range from mild – such as pulling a finger sign – to serious – stabbings, beatings, and death. Controlling our temper while driving is vital for safe and happy travelling. Here are seven ideas to prevent road rage.
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Most of us have suffered from stress at some time in our lives. In fact stress is such a huge problem that the American Medical Association says it’s a factor in more than 75% of illnesses.
Someone has really hurt us. Our adrenaline starts pumping. Our hearts beat quickly, and we want to explode with rage. How can we release our anger while causing little or no harm to ourselves and others?
Do you think that our temperament from early childhood is our destiny or it’s something we can change? Research has found that temperament – the mood that dominates our emotional life, that is a given at birth, and is largely caused by our genes – is not our destiny. With the right experiences and emotional lessons we can shape our personality to become more outgoing if we are naturally shy, more cheerful if we are naturally on the sad-side and so on.
Staying happy during winter can be a challenge for some of us, when the amount of natural sunlight reduces.
Louise L. Hay wrote in her book You Can Heal Your Life: “Love is always the answer to healing of any sort. And the pathway to love is forgiveness. Forgiveness dissolves resentment.”
As the world mourns the deaths of two great people – Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett – what are some ways that can help us cope with the grief?
One of the best ways to forgive others is to use forgiveness techniques from those who have forgiven people for atrocious behaviors against them, then gone on to live happy and fulfilling lives. If they can forgive shocking behavior, we can too.
Stress. Who wants it? Not me. Well, just a bit, because experts say a small amount of stress is good for us. It helps prevent boredom, makes us feel motivated and enhances happiness. They call it positive stress because it leads to positive results. 
Actress Susan Sarandon said, “When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.” I believe this is true. Having empathy – the ability to understand another person’s point-of-view and feelings – helps us in many ways. It can enhance our capacity to love, help us dissolve anger and help us forgive others, all of which give us extra happiness.
