EPISODE 157 OF GROWING OLDER LIVING YOUNGER focuses on one of the key pillars of the Growing Older Living Younger Roadmap for healthy aging - positive relationships built through personal and community connections. We recognize the importance of positive relationships in counteracting negative, stress-response evoking emotions such as loneliness or sadness, that impact physical and mental health. When there is strife within a partnership or a marriage, a vicious cycle may ensue, of negative emotions causing stress responses, which in turn causes partners to engage in further angry behaviors, triggering more negative emotions. Anger is one of the most effective emotions in damaging a relationship. Feelings of annoyance, outrage or hostility, release stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, and ramps up the negative ways in which the couple interact with each other. But what if there is a simple and fun way to break the cycle of blame and recrimination ?

In today’s episode I talk with Rod Jeter, who asks the simple question, “Why Be angry?” A couple of years ago, Rod and his wife were kicked out of marriage counselling in what was just the fifth, of what was supposed to be twelve, sessions. Rod admits it was clearly his fault for being stubborn. So he set to work to create a game to help couples resolve their disagreements in minutes. This game is YBAngry. We discuss how and why the game works to fix relationships and resolve differences.