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“Anger carried to excess begets madness... The outcome of anger is a mental raving, and therefore anger is to be avoided not for the sake of moderation, but for the sake of sanity.”
-Seneca
There is a Spanish expression, “como agua para chocolate” which translates as “like water for chocolate.” The expression refers to making hot chocolate or cocoa, and means on the verge of boiling, and metaphorically this means when one is emotionally on the verge of boiling over. There is usually a moment or two before we “fly off the handle” and start yelling or throwing things where we have a chance to step back from the situation and take a moment to let cooler heads prevail. Some people advise us to count to ten or to take a moment to think through the consequences of what we’re about to do. I prefer to literally remove myself from the situation and just tell the other person (if there is someone else involved) that we can revisit the issue later. Anger has been described as “momentary insanity” by the Roman philosopher Seneca, and when you see someone who is very angry it’s easy to understand why. Anger has taken over the person’s mind (and often their body) and prevents them from reasoning. So when you feel “like water for chocolate,” take a moment to turn down the heat, lest you boil over. –Christopher Simon
