Learning To Be Careful, Bad Temper is Contagious

In summary of Proverbs 22:24-25 it says,

"Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul."

Bottom Line:

Don’t hang out with angry or hot headed people.  Bad temper is contagious, don’t get infected with it.

What this means to me:

I need to be careful with who I hang out or associate closely with.  Anger just like complaining is contagious.  I might easily pick up on the habit and have a hard time changing back.  I’m better off staying away and not picking up on it.   The energy from anger is contagious.   The methods used to express our anger are learned. Since they're learned, they can be unlearned. Every time I blow up and lose my cool, I'm modeling inappropriate anger to those around me. Since I'm a leader, others are learning from what I do.  God, today with your help, I will do my best to take control of my temper. I know that I have fallen in the past, but today I ask for your strength to make a new commitment. Help me to understand and realize the cost of my anger, that it causes arguments, mistakes and causes me to do foolish things and get into all kinds of trouble.  Father, help me to reflect before reacting, to have wisdom and ask myself, `Why am I angry? What do I really want? How can I get it?' Help me to see the causes beneath my anger. Help me to release my anger appropriately, no longer expressing it through violence, shouting, pouting or just being quiet and holding it in as a grudge. Help me to admit it, confess it to you, myself and others. Amen.