How to overcome anger

Anger the enemy within

"Krodhad bhavati sammohah sammohat 

smrti-vibhramah smrti-bhramsad 

buddhi-naso buddhi-nasat pranasyati". 

(Bhagavad gita chapter 2 verse 63)

This is a stanza from the epic Bhagavat Geetha describing the aftermath of anger. A rough translation is - Anger creates delusion. Delusion results in the bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, it results in loss of intelligence and when intelligence is lost one falls down.

When a person gets angry, his awareness and perception are lost temporarily. Anger controls the acts of the person whereby the person loses discrimination and acts in an irrational manner. This hurts the person around, even those whom you consider very dear, which in turn is transferred to you as negative energy. When the person cools down and thinks of it, he also feels sorry for what happened. He or she will never be able to correct or take back the actions.

Anger is the number one enemy of every one. It is very clear from the news which appear in the media every day like husband killing wife, wife injuring husband, son killing or injuring father, mother or kins. Friends fighting with each other and repenting on what happened due to anger etc. these behaviours are because the angry person becomes a tool in the hands of anger and acts as mere puppets without considering the aftermath of their doings.

Anger occurs basically because of expectations. Everyone thinks that the world around him has to dance according to his whims and fancies. Though they know that this never happens their ego refuses to agree. When other people do not behave the way you want them to behave, you get angry and start behaving in unwarranted manner. This creates tension and unpleasantness around. These actions increase the blood pressure not only of the person who is angry but also of the people around listening/seeing the angry actions.

When light dawns, darkness disappears. We cannot eliminate darkness. We can only bring in light to make the area bright. Likewise, we cannot eliminate anger. We can only control this and make life enjoyable for everyone. Anger is darkness. Light the candle of awareness and experience anger disappearing by itself. Next time when you get angry be aware that you are angry. Try to be aware of the intensity, the thoughts it creates within you, the emotions it stirs up in you and the actions this forces you to do. Try to think of the consequences these acts would bring on those who become a pray to your anger. If you succeed in this you have been successful in lighting the lamp of awareness within you and see the darkness of anger disappearing from your mind and spreading happiness round.

Tips to overcome Anger

1. Count the number of times anger occurs in you every day. If you start doing this you will see that the number keeps decreasing every day.

2. Accept the world around you as it is. Do not expect it to behave the way you want.

3. Every person has an identity. Accept the person as what he or she is and don’t expect him or her to be what you aspire from them.

4. Make a list of common situations that make you angry – be it with a person or in a situation – and analyse what you did last time this occurred. Confront the situation when it occurs again with calmness and experience the difference.