Anger Management Techniques
Anger, from full blown rage to minor annoyances afflicts our mind almost every day. We can get angry with anyone or anything – people we work with, stressful situations and even our loved ones – our children, husband, wife, partner. To solve the problem of anger we first need to recognize the anger within our mind, acknowledge how it harms both ourself and others, and appreciate the benefits of being patient in the face of difficulties. We then need to apply practical methods in our daily life to reduce our anger and finally to prevent it from arising at all.
What is anger?
Anger is a deluded mind that focuses on an animate or inanimate object, feels it to be unattractive, exaggerates its bad qualities, and wishes to harm it. For example, when we are angry with our partner, at that moment he or she appears to us as unattractive or unpleasant. We then exaggerate his bad qualities by focusing only on those aspects that irritate us and ignoring all his good qualities and kindness, until we have built up a mental image of an intrinsically faulty person. We then wish to harm him in some way, probably by criticizing or disparaging him.
Because it is based on an exaggeration, anger is an unrealistic mind
Because it is based on an exaggeration, anger is an unrealistic mind; the intrinsically faulty person or thing that it focuses on does not in fact exist. Moreover, as we shall see, anger is also an extremely destructive mind that serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Having understood the nature and disadvantages of anger, we then need to watch our mind carefully at all times in order to recognize it whenever it begins to arise.
What can I do about anger?
Learning meditation and mindfulness can really help us to deal with anger. At our meditation centre in Reading, Berkshire, UK we offer various courses that directly or indirectly help us to deal with anger, depression, irritation and feelings of annoyance. Any meditation class or course will indirectly help with this and from time to time we do classes that directly deal with anger.