Anger : Spiritual Awakening | Meaning & How to control it Spiritually? | Poison to your Mind, Body and Soul | Affirmations |

Introduction:
Anger is not the most comfortable emotion but we all have felt it at times. And when it gets out of control and turns destructive, it can lead to problems—problems at work, in your personal relationships, and in the overall quality of your life.

                                     

It also may be the most destructive emotional state in spiritual contexts.
We often get a message that anger is what our practices should be able to get rid of, that we should try to transform it into pure sweet compassion.
What if we considered anger from another point of view: not as an enemy, but as a dear friend which could be understood?


When our minds are clouded by anger, we don’t see that life’s mixture of joys and difficulties, successes and disappointments applies to us too, and so we get angry when circumstances and other people don’t conform to our liking. But anger gives rise to our suffering.
The Buddha said that, “When we direct anger at another, it comes right back to us –like fine dust thrown against the wind. When I direct anger at myself, it also comes right back at me, in the form of suffering.”

When we feel anger, it’s an indication that something is not right, a boundary has been crossed or a need is not being met. It’s not always about our individual selves, either — Anger is the appropriate response to oppression. Anger is an indication of a person being selfish.

“You will not be punished for your anger. You will be punished by your anger”
This quote is attributed to the Buddha usually, although in fact it is an actual false translation.
This quote was first found in 1996’s “Treasury Of Spiritual Wisdom” by Andy Zubko’s, in which he lists the following quote written by Buddha:
“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by anger. Let a man overcome anger by love.”

Although this quote is not actually from Buddha, but it does contain a lot of truth: The idea that we will not be punished for being angry, but rather punished by anger, the feeling, itself. It speaks to mindfulness, karma, and the Buddhist idea of ignorance.

So, what does it actually mean?

Usually in the society of 21^st Century, we are used to the idea of anger that it is punished by an external source.
For instance,
If you are angry because of school, you might be punished by the professor.
If you are angry at work, you might be punished by your boss.
And if you are angry with your spouse, you might be punished by him/her.
However, before you are being punished by those people for acting in angry ways, you will first be punished by yourself.

The idea is that, Anger itself is an actual form of self-punishment. And this is absolutely true.

Feeling anger is its a kind of penalty to self.
After all, who wants to feel angry? We’d all much rather feel happy, right?

You can be punished by any painful emotion, mostly negative emotions like sadness, jealousy, guilt, shame…they are all their own penalty and they are all painful emotions.

But, if anger is a kind of self-punishment then, what are we exactly being punished for?
Because if we haven't done anything bad, what have we even done wrong? Why should anger be a punishment? For what reasons?

According to Buddhism, Anger is one of the three poisons, along with greed and ignorance. 

Buddha’s another famous quote, “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

Buddhism states that, the harm we do to others will eventually cause harm to ourselves.
This is essentially the idea of the good and the bad karmas.
Also a saying, what goes around, comes around.


We also know where science too believes that acting in anger or in other negative emotions will cause us harm eventually no matter what.
If you act angrily towards other people, they will probably respond likewise, so that our anger ends up being reflected on to ourselves.

We also know that anger directly affects our mental and physical health, causing problems like depression, anxiety, and blood pressure and much more.
And so it is literally true that we are anyways being punished by our anger, because our anger affects our happiness and our physical health too.

If we get angry, it is exactly the direct result of ignorance.
Let’s say, that we are angry because we made plans to meet someone and they’ve let us down.
Sure, we have the right to be angry, because they’ve inconvenienced us. But the real cause of our anger is lack of understanding.
We are not considering that perhaps they’ve had a hard day, or something’s just came up, or perhaps they have fallen sick or maybe cold feet (for instance, if they’re nervous turning up for a date).

We ignore thinking in the terms of their way, seeing the only fact that they have inconvenienced us (not being compassionate), and so we end up feeling angry.
And so, if we see the full picture from the third person perspective we would consider their feelings and their circumstances, we would be far less inclined to even feel anger.

If you take a level of compassionate and enlightened perspective on things, you will not feel angry and won't be punished by your own negative emotions.


Anger: Perspective of seeing it as a selfish emotion and a karmic energy.

Usually we feel angry because usually it's just about us. 
Sometimes, it can be really unfair to you that caused anger... Agreed!

But for a moment, do take a mental time-out... practice breathing, think and rewind your life tape for a minute and think the reason that caused you anger now?

You will find that you have done the exact thing in your past which led you to be angry right now at this moment especially when someone else did.
Also maybe you are still doing it presently but we so blind-fold our own mistakes, that we can easily blame someone for doing the same thing. Isn’t it crazy?

(And still if you do not fall in the above criteria, maybe it’s also because of past life karmic connection where the roles are reversed, the reason that causes anger in you in this life is because you were the person performing the same karma that causes anger in you in this life.

And here it has already played the role of karma before you even realise.

In a heated situation, when you at least acknowledge that Anger is a selfish emotion, your stress and anger automatically vanishes away within no time.

The antidote to anger is to seek compassionate understanding and to see things from another person’s point of view and beyond time and space too (karmic role reversal). When we do this, we are more likely to feel sympathetic rather than being angry.

If you have a hot head, you can practice following affirmations.

1. Being relaxed, calm and control is my type of personality.
2. I can easily control my anger.
3. I learn to manage my anger in any heated situation.
4. I believe I live a better life without anger.
5. I am a positive person, and positivity is always surrounded by me.
6.  I can naturally think positive in tough situations.
7. Managing anger helps to repair and strengthen my bond with friends and family.
8. Diffusing anger is easy for me.
9. I am at peace and harmony with everything and everyone.
10. I always speak up my mind before my frustrations take over me.
11. I am calm and a loving person.
12. Outside circumstances and situations do not take my inner peace.
13. I am a powerful, passionate and a peaceful person.
14. I am free to feel joy, happiness and peace.
15. I choose to transform my anger into positive action.

If you want to learn about how and when to practice affirmations, you should read my another post on self-help| powerful affirmations when and how to practice to achieve the results asap.