Just for today, I will be without anger

Just for today, I will be without worry
Just for today, I will be without anger
Just for today, I will be grateful
Just for today, I will be honest to myself and others
Just for today, I will show love and respect to everybody and every living thing

This is the second chapter of my little series about Mikao Usui’s Five Universal Principles (Principles of Reiki)

Just for today, I will be without anger
Like last week, we have a choise. The choise of being without anger is at least as difficult as being without worry.

Mirror
What we might not consider, if we are angry with someone, is that anger is often a mirror of parts of ourselves, which we do not want to face. Try having this in mind, next time you feel angry with someone. Maybe this person is only a mirror of yourself. Do you want to be angry with yourself? Or do you want to work on the sides of yourself, which are mirrored by the other person?

Angry in a split second
Anger might have been accumulated over many years – often since childhood on account of traumatic experiences. Therefore, it can be difficult to release anger. Anger might appear in a split second. Sometimes so fast that it the angry person is overwhelmed and surprised.

But I am entitled to be angry
Well – yes – of course, your anger belongs to you. So you are entitled to cling to it. The challenge, however, is that even though you feel entitled to be angry, it really doesn’t serve anything good. Yes – you may release your frustrations by yelling and throwing stuff around – but what are the consequences?

Other people start fearing you
When you get angry and really show your anger towards one or more persons, you might seem big and terrifying. You might even make the counterparty “du bliver vred og virkelig viser din vrede overfor en eller flere personer, vil du måske nok virke stor, overvældende og frygtindgydende. Det kan måske få modparten til at “behave”, but is this really a victory for you? Do you really want that other human beings walking around on tiptoes to avoid making you angry?

You loose respect
When you have shown your anger too many times (the amount of times depends on the other party), you will eventually lose the respect of the counterparty. A person, who needs to blow him/herself up in order to gain respect, will achieve the quite opposite.

And not only do you lose the respect from others. You also lose your self respect. Deep down, you do know that this is not good.

You lose your power
By “needing” to utter your dislike by anger, you lose your power. You discover that the world is so used to your anger that they don’t care. Your power might have been transferred to the counterparty, who handles your anger with means of escape or silence. The counterparty’s choice is as just as improper as yours, as this might only bring more wood to your fire of anger – and then everything goes around in circles.

Keep your own power
Instead of loosing your power because of anger, you can choose to keep your power and learn how to “catch” the anger, before it bursts out. There are several methods for this purpose. You can even choose to take anger management classes, if your anger out manners you. Of course, you might choose the old technic and count to 10, but this is not always possible in case of sudden anger.

Maybe you can use this method, taken from  NLP:

Anchor
An anchor can be used to obtain immediate calmness. An anchor can be a place or a thing, which might not be within reach, when you need it. Therefore it is very useful that most people have hands with 5 fingers on each. You can prepare you anchor in advance, as follows (maybe with assistance from another person).

1. Decide in advance that when you put your thumb and your ring fingertips towards each other, you’ll be in your anchor, in which there is peace and happiness
2. Close your eyes and visualize a previous situation, which has made you peaceful and happy
3. Make sure that you get all the details from the situation: the sounds, the smells, the sensations in your body, etc.
4. Continue encountering all the positive impressions, until you sense that your satisfaction barometer is on 10
5. Put your thumb and your ring fingertips together, so they touch each other temporarily – maybe only a few seconds – but enough to feel the touch
6. Let go of the touch

Every time you feel an anger bubbling inside of you, you immediately put the 2 fingertips together. Vupti – your body and head are in peace. Anger is not fed by peace. And peace is “contagious” to others. And Peace feeds harmony, balance, happiness, and love.

(The technique can be used on other feelings than anger)

OBS: Remember that this technique does not “cure” anger, but can help you taming it, before it appears. If you wish to remain without anger, you have to dig deeper and work on, what is the reason for your anger. Mindfulness and Meditation might help you some of the way.

When do you choose to be without anger?

Have a fantastic weekend – Life is waiting for you!

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