Hey this is Ish and today I want to talk to you about how to deal with anger.
So I feel that anger is an emotion that we all express but unfortunately what I see in the spiritual community is that we don't necessarily know how to deal with it.
And this is because of two reasons.
So the first is we develop a spiritual ego if you will and this is kind of like a self concept that we create in our own minds.
So we think that because we are a yogi or we're a buddhist or we're someone that meditates that we shouldn't have this emotion in our lives.
So this could be as simple as saying I am a person that does yoga and I'm not supposed to have anger or it could be deeper and because you know your parents were angry as a response you became someone who's like a new age person that doesn't express anger.
So in both cases you're suppressing that anger and not letting that manifest.
And then the second reason is that we don't have the proper tools in place to actually handle anger because if you think of all contemplative paths they are more introspective in nature and if you notice that anger is an expressive emotion it's extending that energy outwards into the world and with meditation you're looking inside and sure you definitely feel better after a meditation session but what tends to happen is that this emotion of anger tends to build up into our bones and our muscles and our body so we get these patterns of anger kind of ingrained in us and there isn't a place or form for it to express outwards.
So there are a couple ways I'm going to discuss how to actually deal with that from a spiritual standpoint but first I want to clear up the misconception that it's not right for people who study any kind of spiritual path to actually express anger and you should be calm all the time.
So one thing a prominent Zen master,
This was Zen master Takeda Mokurai said once is that they say that if you practice Zen you will be calm.
Some may understand these words because they are attached to the literal sense of the word calm.
They think that they're completely unaffected even when struck by a thunderbolt but this is actually not true.
The subtle meaning of Zen lies in the spontaneous response.
So if the thunder peels we peel too.
If an earthquake comes to shake us we ourselves shake with it.
It is childish to say that those who practice Zen will never care nor fuss about anything.
So clearly his response is completely different from what we think of Zen or any kind of meditation that you have to be calm all the time.
In reality you can express all these emotions but it's not letting you,
You're not going to let it control you.
There's just an outpour of expression.
So there's going to be a couple of different ways I'm going to discuss how to deal with anger.
So the first is through a law of attraction point of view.
So anger focuses on what is unwanted and basically what you want to do is shift your attention on what is wanted instead.
So if you think of anger it's I don't want to do this,
I don't like how someone is shooting me,
I don't like this situation.
It's all focused on what you don't want and rather what you want to do is focus on what you would like instead.
So if you received a lot of job rejections for example you're going to be angry because you're focusing on the rejection itself which is unwanted and instead what you want to do is think of the wanted.
So you could think to yourself and reframe it in your mind as now I'm on a path to finding a better job or this position wasn't right for me and now I'm one step closer to finding my ideal position.
So you can see how I've changed my interpretation of the scenario.
This is very common of law of attraction where you want to ideally change what is unwanted to wanted.
Now the second thing is I'm going to approach how to deal with anger through an energetic point of view.
So one thing you can do is to actually express that emotion like I mentioned.
So anger is an expressive emotion.
So you can do that by running,
Getting any kind of exercise such as lifting weights.
Martial arts is a big thing so even back in you know thousands of years ago all the monks and Shaolin monks and Zen monks would practice a form of martial arts because they understood that they can express their energy in a very positive way.
So they express martial arts as not as a way to actually beat people up if they're angry but rather express their inner emotions and there's a perfect art to it.
So they have the art of swordsmanship where a lot of Zen masters will take up the art of you know using a sword and kind of moving that around or they practice kung fu or any kind of art where you're exerting your will and exerting force outwards in a positive way.
So that's actually one thing I found that is pretty good for getting that emotion out.
And then another thing in terms of energy is that if you think of a scale of energy and I've talked about Fred Dodson's book Levels of Energy often,
Anger is a emotion that is high up on the negative frequencies so it's much stronger and more powerful than being fearful and being scared of everything.
So it is a more positive state than the lower ones but one step above anger is actually just being calm and being at peace.
So one way to get rid of the chronic angry states is to actually just get more rest.
So this can be done by the form of meditation,
You can go for a walk,
You can get a massage,
You can go to a spa,
So anything where you can actually just relax and let go.
So that's also another way to handle that.
And now going into chakras,
You'll notice that an imbalanced third chakra,
The Manipura or SolarPixas chakra,
Manifests as anger.
So this is when the power center is actually imbalanced and manifests as just a lot of rage and anger.
And actually one antidote to that is actually by tapping into our fourth chakra,
The chakra above,
And that is Anahat or the fourth chakra which is related to love and kindness.
So in Buddhism we learn that the antidote to anger is actually providing loving kindness practices,
And this is the same for the yoga and chakra work as well.
So if you're feeling particularly angry about a person,
Let's just say someone insults you and you're very angry,
The antidote is actually to bring that person in your mind and bring kindness and love out to them,
Because you understand that they're people just like you and they're sentient beings,
And they are also hurting themselves by being angry,
Because I've heard somewhere anger is like giving someone poison and also drinking it too,
Because you're shouting at them but you're also hurting yourself because you're creating that energy of anger within you.
So understand that all these actions are driven by a person's ego,
If they're being really mean to you,
And you can give kindness and love out to the other person and compassion.
And that's actually a great way to transform that anger into something greater.
So loving kindness practices are thinking first to yourself,
May I be happy,
May I be free,
May I be well,
And then conducting that energy out to someone else.
So you can say,
May this person be free of suffering,
May this person be happy,
And may they be well,
Because you understand that they're people too.
Other practices you can take on is any kind of loving practice such as taking care of animals,
Plants,
Things,
Writing in a journal,
So all activities that you can actually share love and kindness out to other people will soon transform this energy.
But I think it's really important that you first accept this energy rather than suppressing it,
And you can first let it out by doing these expressive things like I mentioned,
Like martial arts,
Lifting,
Or doing any of these practices,
And actually just expressing that anger and allow yourself to feel it.
And then the second thing is to actually transform it,
Doing these other practices like loving kindness or just bringing that intention out.
So I hope this helps,
And I hope that you don't actually suppress this energy,
But I actually allow it and use it as a point to grow.
Thanks.
