Tina Siler

Anger is a state of mind.  Many times we are aware of the sensations that arise in the bodies when we hear something we “think” we don’t like.  Our heart rate speeds up, our jaw becomes tense, and our hands tighten into fists.  Many people let those sensations become reality.  They believe that the words could hurt them and so they defend themselves and react to the words in an aggressive state.  But in this state is more suffering and nonproductive. 

I was reading a book the other day, Saltwater Buddha, which described the difference between a state of “hell” and “heaven”.  It went something like this:

“A samurai seeked out a Buddhist monk and asked him if he could teach him the difference between heaven and hell.  The monk turned to the samurai and said, “why would I waste that knowledge on a stupid samurai.”  This was a very disrespectful thing to say to a samurai and caught off guard and feeling ashamed and disrespected the samurai took out his sword and held it above the monk in a rage.  The monk then calmly said, “that is hell.”  Once the samurai realized that he was about to strike down a monk he fell to his knees and wept asking the monk for forgiveness.  The monk then said, “and that is heaven.”

There are lessons to be learned in the sensations that our body creates.  Though to be intuned and ready for the lesson is to be in a constant state of curiousity.  If we are curious and in tune with ourselves we can be in more control of our choices and not let our emotions dictate how we manage our lives.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 at 9:05 pm and is filed under Anger Managment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.