21st Century: Query 114 (Buddha)

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

~ Buddha also called the Gautama Buddha, the Shakyamuni Buddha (“Buddha, Sage of the Shakyas”) or simply the Buddha, after the title of Buddha, was a monk (śramaṇa), mendicant, sage, philosopher, teacher and religious leader on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in the northeastern part of ancient India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.

Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout other regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

How can the cliché “Don’t sweat the small stuff” inform our lives, where we often experience small grievances daily?
How does holding onto our anger – even if it’s highly justified – hurt us both emotionally and physically?