I recently ran into an old acquaintance. We knew one another from a past job. I recall him as being a friendly sort, funny and full of life. What I found on this chance meeting was an enraged soul. A man that had experienced tough, tough times—financially, personally, professionally. He was in trouble, but not as much with the circumstances that surrounded his life, but with the anger that enveloped his entire being. As the day past, I could not shake this vision of my old work friend. He ranted on about injustices. He used unattractive language to describe the people and places that were troubling him. His eyes darted. His stance jumped.
It made me ponder how dangerous our anger can be. It is dangerous to our well being—mentally and physically. But our anger does more than raise our blood pressure and make others around us on edge. It alienates us from ourselves and others. It draws us away and simultaneously further into our own misery.
When we are angry, I believe we are really scared. We are frightened by fear that we cannot comprehend, cannot accept, and seemingly, cannot allow. There is no easy way to help someone who is exceedingly angry but perhaps we can help ourselves. Help ourselves by allowing anger—see it and feel it and then wisely and calmly push it away. Releasing anger is of course easier said then done but what if we tried? We have that great tool of breath. We have the great knowledge of needing to let go. We also have the great wisdom to understand that allowing and releasing brings us closer to who we are, who we want to be.
Don’t allow your fear to walk around disguised as anger, but allow yourself to accept your fears and release your anger.