How to turn mole hills into mountains

You've all heard of Hercules right?

Hercules is extremely strong but like the rest of us, he needs help every now and then.

One day Hercules was outside and he saw a nasty looking beast rear its head on the side of the road. He took his club and smashed the beast's head. To his surprise, the beast grew three heads instead of one.

He struck it again and this time it grew six heads!

The harder and faster Hercules struck, the larger the beast grew.

Suddenly, Athena appeared. "Hercules! Can't you see? Stop hitting Strife (the monster)!

Keep hitting him and he grows. Leave him and he returns to its original size."

99 times out of 100, reacting to someone during an argument will cause them to get angrier. Throughout the week, there will be plenty of situations that (unfortunately) cause us to act almost instantly (usually in a regrettable way) without thinking.

The negative emotions we act on come about because of the lack of control over the circumstance. It causes us to not be able to think or see clearly.

Many times we act and overreact to things that just don't make sense to us. We keep trying to fix things or we worry ourselves crazy.

It's Hercules beating the beast without noticing how big it's actually growing! But the more we act like Hercules, the more things tend to spiral out of control.

If we left it, whatever 'it' happens to be, alone for a while and came back with a clearer head (or six) it's a wiser option.

It's much better to focus on the situation when you can actually see and think clearly.

Next time you're really annoyed or are in a bind and can't find a way out, think about Hercules and the beast.

When you don't act like Hercules, you'll feel less angst. The less angst we feel, the less likely we'll be to reach for food to soothe us.

-Adam