On the internet recently, the Dalai Lama is quoted as saying “The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred.” There it is in a nutshell!
Anger is a subject I know something about, and it’s been a lifelong challenge to deal with and master it. When something pushes my buttons I can be like a dragon spewing smoke and fiery words, or like a bull who has been provoked. My experience with anger is that it causes me to struggle with sleepless nights and feel trapped in loops of contentious thoughts that go ‘round and ‘round, using up my energy and taking up too much space in my brain. So I have found my way past it for the most part.
There are two ways to deal with anger, in my opinion. One is to work on shifting those thoughts of outrage, retaliation, and hurt, for these are the major effects of anger. The person who has said or done something to trigger your fiery and negative emotion may have done so deliberately or unconsciously. In any case, they may have moved on, and you’re stuck with the overwhelmingly difficult feeling of rage, or its cousin, irritation.
In my book, “The Wisdom Keys”, there are a number of exercises designed specifically to move one’s thoughts out of the loop of anger and into greater calm. Some of these techniques include the use of humor, meditation, EFT (emotional freedom technique), and many others. In today’s era, out-of-control emotions are understood as the cause of a lot of illness, unhelpful behavior, and poor life choices. Anger management courses are available. My guides, The Brotherhood of Light Workers, have said (in a similar way to the Dalai Lama’s quote, though years before I read it) that the mastery of emotion is such a powerful victory, it is “no less that that on a battlefield, or an achievement worth as much as a Nobel Prize!”
The second way to manage emotion, in my humble opinion, is very old and very true. We can say the following: “Give it up to the universe.” “Let go and let God.” Or even biblically, “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.” What does this mean? It means that you stop spending your time creating ways to get even or retaliate, or have a harsh and cutting comeback, or even in extremes, hitting, cursing, or getting violent. I never did that but I’m sure I thought about it back in the old days before I had achieved some mastery. “Vengeance is mine” is a really cool way of saying that the universe will take care of the person whose actions have been harmful or detrimental. Karma will catch up and bite them!
Here’s another good quote from Facebook: “Instead of saying to people ‘Have a nice day’, say ‘Have the day that you deserve’, and let karma sort it out.” There’s a lot of truth in that funny line. Once you let go and let God (or Source or universe), your emotions get soothed and calmed down, your thoughts can turn to more important matters, and you sleep like a baby. Emotional mastery is the best thing that we can do for our troubled world, and for our own inner peace. And one of the most difficult emotions to master is the emotion of anger.
Think about it. Think about ways to shift and transform. If the world masters emotion, there will be no more need for war.
Judi Thomases is a contributing blogger for JenningsWire online magazine.
The post is presented by the National Publicist, Annie Jennings of the NYC based PR Firm, Annie Jennings PR. Annie Jennings PR specializes in marketing books for getting authors booked on radio talk show interviews, TV shows in major online and in high circulation magazines and newspapers. Annie also works with speaker and experts to build up powerful platforms of credibility and influence.
