The ancient Egyptians had a rather complicated process by which they were allowed, or not, to access what we might now call “Heaven” after their death. Among other things, they had to approach the gods of the Underworld with a series of negative affirmations: a recitation of all those things that they had not done during their lives. A kind of inverse Ten Commandments as in “I have not killed”, “I have not disrespected my parents”, “I have not stolen”. And one of the negative statements was “I haven’t eaten the heart.”

They certainly weren’t referring literally (yuck!), but rather to the many emotional or mental ways in which we “eat our hearts out.” One of the main forms is anger.

I was struck by this phrase as it is scientifically completely accurate. What the ancient Egyptians could not have known through modern scientific technology, but perfectly assessed, is that anger literally “eats our hearts.”

Research shows that “healthy people who are often angry or hostile are 19% more likely than calmer people to develop heart disease. Among people with heart disease, those who are generally angry or hostile It was worse than the others.”

It’s easy to see how it works: When you’re in the grip of anger, fear, or other powerful negative thoughts and feelings, your heart rate becomes chaotic, irregular, and unpredictable, meaning it no longer pumps blood in an orderly fashion to your cells. Such a disordered heart rhythm has unpleasant consequences, such as high blood pressure, which in turn contributes to hardening of the arteries, stroke, kidney disease, and even the development of heart failure. Not to mention premature death: According to the CDC, the leading cause of death in the US is cardiovascular disease. Who needs that?

So yes, those ancient Egyptians hit the nail on the head: anger eats your heart. But to be clear, it’s not that “Aargh!!!” occasional. that we all experience that eats at our hearts. It is the anger of past hurts that you keep feeding day after day with resentment or guilt. It’s that slow burn of some perceived injustice that keeps you furious inside, even though your happy face is perfectly glued on the outside. It is reacting too quickly and too dramatically to the ordinary frustrations of life.

Don’t eat the heart. Feel that initial rush of anger, sure, but as quickly as you can, release it. Express it appropriately, communicate your feelings as calmly and rationally as you can, and let it go. Practice meditation or mindfulness to help you navigate life from a calm place. Do your best to give yourself and others the benefit of the doubt instead of making yourself laugh at whatever it is.

We’re all in this together, you know, and as hard as it is to see sometimes, people (including you) really are doing the best they can right now with what they’ve got from where they’re at. It is better to nurture your heart with appreciation for our shared humanity than to harbor anger, which in the end only tarnishes your enjoyment of life and shortens it.