Molly's Musings is for the random thoughts in life--some really deep, others very. . . Molly's Musings are meant to get you thinking, laughing or, preferably, both. If you leave this page feeling offended. . .well, you need to open up your mind a little and work on your sense of humor now, don't you? :-)

I mentioned awhile back that I've been watching "Kid Nation" (Wednesday nights on CBS). This week, there was a bit of a tiff between 2 of the kids. The girl involved made an interesting comment--that kids generally do not hold grudges and if I'm remembering correctly, she either said or implied that adults do.

That got me to thinking because I do remember a time in my life where I was quite aware of holding grudges. I can look back now and see that I was angry about a lot of things, of course at the time, I didn't know what I was angry about (usually at the root of a lot of anger is hurt, which was true in my case). Over time, I've been able to face up to the root of my anger, i.e., the things and people who hurt me and let go of the anger. One thing I've noticed in retrospect is that I'm not only more emotionally healthy but I'm more physically healthy as the result of letting go of the anger.

It takes a lot of energy to be angry. Did you know it takes 42 muscles to frown but only 17 to smile? Like I said, it takes more energy to be angry and using that energy wears a person down and when a person is worn down, they're more prone to sickness. I used to catch colds all the time, come down with the flu, etc. but, knock on wood, I cannot remember the last time I had a cold. It's been at least 2 years, if not longer. I attribute it to the fact that I'm not using my energy to be mad.

I can't say that my "theory" is correct for everyone but I do know pretty pissed off people and they always tend to be sick. And the happy-go-lucky people are rarely sick. Correlation? I think so.

I hope the girl on "Kid Nation" keeps practicing her awesome attitude with regards to grudges. I think she'll wind up being a very healthy adult. It's not too late for anyone to start working on letting go of grudges and anger. The simplest way to start? By turning that frown upside down.

Until next time.