It’s not good to be angry, get frustrated, be sad or get depressed. It’s also not good to be in an accident and get injuries or die. Yet, all of these happen to us one time or the other. Can we use these events as opportunities to dive deeper in the center of these emotional storms similar to flying in the eye of a storm?
Emotional storms appear unexpected and unwelcome, very similar to appearance of a hurricane, tornado, tsunami or an earthquake. Yet, we work hard on predicting arrival of such natural forces and prepare in advance to reduce the damage. One of the ways to reduce death and destruction is by getting out of the way to a safer place.
Is it possible to predict arrival of emotional storms? Should there be a multi-modality management approach to managing anger and or other emotional outbreaks? There is always a multimodal approach to managing natural disasters. Even a breast cancer is managed by multiple approaches i.e. sugery, radiation and chemotherapy. Why can’t there be multi-level approach for an emotional storm like anger?
We have discussed silent listening and silent watching previously. The time and place can be your choice, you can decide what clothes to wear and what surrounding to practice intermittent silence in. That does not apply to emotions. You can try to create anger, you can try to be sad or depressed, but that is not the real authentic anger or sadness. Any emotion you create, you can undo; it is not real and it is not authentic.
Watching of emotions as and when they appear is possible, it’s easier if you have practiced 10-minute intermittent silence for some time. I would say at least for 3 months. Now you are ready to take advantage of emotional situations that may arise. Let’s pick up anger.
You are really angry with your friend. How come he decided unilaterally for you. He should have asked you first. Your body is totally eclipsed with anger. Your body is shaking with anger, your breathing is disturbed, your fists are closed, and you are about to hit your friend. He doesn’t get it. He is not even saying sorry. Anger is controlling your body and the mind. Discretion has gone by the wayside. All the good things that your friend did in the past are buried somewhere.
Your sister takes you in another room even though you still are very angry. Here is an opportunity for you to go into 10-minute silence and just observe inside. You have practiced silent watching before. Now it is time to use the same technique in watching your anger. You can see it as an opportunity because the authenticity of anger cannot be produced by trying to put it on.
Close the eyes, as slowly as possible. Let your breathing quieten down and let your body relax at its own speed. Switch off the light if it is bright. You are not going to use your mind here. There is no reason to analyze, apologize or justify anything. You are just going to watch everything going on inside as a witness. Your body is still trembling; you can watch your body tremble. You can continue watching if trembling is getting better or if it is getting worse. Your mind may want to talk you out of this 10-minute practice. You have to continue through that and follow the practice with your 10-minue alarm.
The anger expresses through the body but is that where the anger started. Keep looking inside further. Something that the wishing mind wanted is not getting fulfilled. That might have set it off. The intellect is supporting the wishing mind. Did the anger start in the mind?
The deeper you look in the harder it is to find where the anger started. Here is where your knowledge of Astral body comes handy. Physical body is the first body that we come to know about. Astral body exists as real as the physical body and has its own anatomy and physiology. This is the body that continues the journey after the physical body dies.
As you continue looking silently inside where the anger started, you will find that the anger started in the astral body and then travelled to the physical body. By the time it gets to the physical body, the anger is well trenched and not easy to deal with. Actually, anger is an energy that envelops the body. The body responds appropriately by secreting hormones and assuming an aggressive posture. It’s similar to other emotions or the sexual energy that can get hold of the body as well.