How to Calm Your Frustration and Irritability

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I was talking to a good friend and colleague of mine yesterday. She’s this lovely, level, grounded person. She’s the one I go to when I need a sounding board.

Except that yesterday, she said she was really off. She was quite frustrated by simple things: too many items on her to-do list, not enough time in the day to get them done, etc.

At the end of our conversation, she asked me if the weather has anything to do with her mood.

I said yes.

She’s not alone. I’ve run into several friends who are feeling more frustrated and irritable lately. It has a lot to do with the spring season.

A few of weeks ago, I shared a blog post with you about why Spring can bring issues with fatigue, poor sleep, and irritability. Spring brings a surge of energy to the liver and gallbladder meridians. These two meridians, when in balance, bring kindness and forgiveness to the surface. When out of balance, they bring out anger and frustration.

To calm your frustration and irritability, you need to bring these two meridians back into balance. Here’s a simple exercise you can do to balance your liver meridian, right at your desk, in front of a computer, or in front of your TV.

Transcript of the video:

“Hi, Dan Zhou here. Today, I’d like to share with you a simple exercise to calm frustration and irritation. 

According to Chinese Medicine, your liver and gallbladder meridians belong to the wood element. Wood belongs to the spring season. Everything grows in the wild. When your liver gets a nice boost of energy from the spring season, your liver meridian is more prone to get out of balance. 

When your liver meridian is balanced, you come from a place of kindness and forgiveness. When your liver meridian is out of balance, you get frustrated and irritated more easily. 

That’s why I’ve seen friends, normally lovely, nice people, get frustrated in the spring season. 

The exercise I’m going to show you can be done anywhere, especially in front of your computer at your desk, or in front of TV. 

Interlace your fingers and put your hands behind the back of your head. Open your chest wide, so your elbows are parallel to your shoulders. 

Now, turn slowly to the left. When you turn, move your eyes too. At the end of the turn, direct your eyes to look at the back of your head. Hold your breath there for a little bit. 

Now, turn back to the center, and all the way to the right, moving your eyes from left to right. 

Your elbows are completely open. 

When you get to the end of the right side, hold your breath and look at the back of your head. 

Your eyes are moving the whole time while you’re turning. 

One more time. 

Now, you can continue doing this three more times. Left, right, and again. 

I’m going to explain why this works. 

First, your liver meridian goes to your eyes. It governs your eyes. When you move your eyes from left to right and right to left, you are helping your liver meridian. 

Second, the liver is the largest internal organ. It sits under the right rib cage. When you twist and turn, you massage the liver organ, which in turn helps the liver meridian. 

Third, when you open up your elbows, you are opening up the armpits completely. That helps the liver meridian too. 

Now, you know why this exercise works and how to do it. I hope you do it every day. It goes a long way towards improving your health. 

Again, remember that your liver is the largest organ in your body. When you help your liver meridian, you help your liver function better.”