ANGER

​By Daniel G. Weidner, LMHP
 
It is a beautiful day and you are going about your business in a cheerful and attentive mood. Then you hear that familiar notification sound from your phone. You open your phone to see a news flash that the federal government has defunded the production of essential vaccines. This information then gets added to the already significant list of very troubling information coming out of Washington DC. Instantly you experience a sense of disbelief, frustration and the kind of anger that makes your blood boil! 
 
Or you are having a likewise pleasant day and someone cuts you off in heavy traffic and you are forced to slam on your brakes to avoid a collision! Instantly you feel anger within you. Your hands clench, your pulse accelerates, and your respiration increases. Impulsively you give the other driver the one finger salute. 
 
Anger is a normal emotional reaction. Some anger is expected in life. The Buddhist’s refer to anger as Samskara, or a mental formation. Mental formations occur all of the time. Anger in itself is not inherently bad. However, it is both the accumulation of anger and our direct and/or indirect response to anger that can lead to suffering. Carrying anger within ourselves over time can have debilitating effects on our physical and mental health. Impulsively responding to anger can lead to negative consequences. What are we to do with anger? 
 
We understand that any change begins with recognition. When we feel anger arise we can begin by noting to ourselves “I am angry”. Some immediate relief can be found by merely recognizing and noting our anger. 
 
Victor Frankl said that between Stimulus (in this case the anger producing event) and Response (e.g., giving the one finger salute)– lies Choice. 
 
Recognizing and noting anger provides us with the opportunity to make a choice before we respond.  Our first choice can be to pause and take 3 mindful breaths. This will help us to regain self-control and facilitate a mindful response to the anger producing event. 
 
It is the buildup and accumulation of anger over time that can be the most harmful to our wellbeing. 
 
This is where Meditation and Mindfulness practices can be helpful. Through Meditation practice we strengthen our ability to recognize when an angry thought and/or feeling arises. We make note of it (“anger”), let it go, and return to the breath. The effect here is to improve our ability to recognize anger as it arises – both on the cushion and in daily life. This practice also helps us to both reduce the level of our emotional reactivity and to more quickly recover from the emotional reactivity associated with anger.  

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