Edward’s Diary Entry 59 – Virtue 12. Absence of Anger / What to do about irascibility?

Anger, wrath, fury, rage, 

irascibility, irritableness, annoyance, 

irritation, flashes of anger 

at small things…

Akrodha means “no-anger” or checking anger. “All evil qualities and actions proceed from anger. If you can eradicate anger, all bad qualities will die by themselves. Anger begets eight kinds of vices: rashness, injustice, persecution, jealousy, taking possession of others’ property, harsh words, cruelty and killing.” - SwamiSivananda.

So let’s take a look at what we have to do to practise Akrodha.

What to do now – dealing with anger. Stay aware. Watch the mind. Note any upsurge of irritation, annoyance or anger. Check that impulse. Place attention on breathing, moving. This detracts energy from emotions and passions, which move faster, but at least you can start breathing as soon as you notice them. You have to be very alert to check them. By first placing awareness on breathing, you have a chance, not much, but a small chance. Then use thoughts to combat the explosion: 1) Look at the situation, put yourself in the other person’s place, empathise, be compassionate, reason it out. Maybe the other person is totally unaware – it’s no fault of yours; the other person is non-virtuous – it’s no fault of yours; the other person has been misled or is simply wrong – it’s no fault of yours; the other person is acting meanly and cruelly– it’s not your fault; the other person may even be right in his or her criticism, which has just gone overboard, that’s all – accept the correction, maybe you just made a mistake, so apologise, try to learn from it and forget the past situation.

Seneca and the Stoics said “The greatest remedy for anger is delay.” Delay means finding a space and allowing time to intervene between the input and your possible output. Delay should mean breathe deeply 7 times before reacting…

What to do for the future – prevention: Practise calmness, meditate at least 15 mins every day. Just sit and remain silent, eyes closed and follow your breathing. Eventually your mind will become calmer.

What to do about the past – learning: Practise awareness and mind-watching, learn from any mistake, stay awake and try to nip anger in the bud next time. Above all, don’t justify anger, either on your own initiative or by reading Wikipedia or similar approaches, I quote: “Anger or wrath is an intense emotional response… a normal emotion that involves a strong uncomfortable… response to a perceived provocation.”  The trick is “perceived provocation”; it all depends on your perception (sense organs and mind). Change your perceptions and you change your world.