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Life is filled with many joys and moments of bliss. As well, it can be filled with many stressors such as negativity, aggression and pain. Sometimes, these everyday stressors can cause us to lose our temper quickly, over anyone or anything that triggers us. Clearly, anger is not a healthy behavior. 

WHAT IS ANGER?

Anger is a natural emotion that has varying degrees of intensity—it can range from mild annoyance to intense rage. It is considered normal and usually healthy, but too much of something can be harmful, and anger is no exception.

The feeling of anger has both physical and psychological consequences: it can increase your heart rate and blood pressure, raise your basal body temperature, and elevate the “fight or flight” energy hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine.

Anger can be the result of internal or external events. You may feel anger towards an event or a specific person. Anger can also happen when you worry about personal problems or when you remember a traumatic experience. Expressing anger is normally healthy because it serves as an adaptive response to threats. However, we cannot just lash out at the next person beside us and so we have to find effective and safe ways to release this strong emotion from our system.

WHAT IS COMPASSION MEDITATION, AND HOW CAN IT CURB ANGER?

Compassion meditation is a meditation practice that involves silently repeating certain phrases that are intended to move thoughts and feelings from the negativity towards positivity.

In compassion meditation, our focus is well-being: the well-being of others as well as of ourselves. It can transform judgment to caring, indifference to understanding, and isolation to connection. It helps us develop a mental habit of selfless or altruistic love.

Compassion means wanting others to be free from suffering. However, it can be emotionally taxing, especially if you have to cultivate it for people you dislike. Compassion meditation can help you nurture compassion in a gradual procession, first towards yourself, a loved one, a neutral person, and as you go along the exercise, compassion for someone you may dislike.

This technique fosters concern for yourself and other people by helping to accept that distress is a part of life, and to not see suffering as permanent. It trains people to notice suffering and developing the urge to lighten, if not totally eradicate it. By first extending compassion to a loved one and to yourself, it becomes easier to extend the same feeling and concern to people you do not know, including those you may resist. It helps you focus on the goal of connecting with another person and helping raise their vibration.

Studies show that people who have undergone compassion meditation training demonstrate more altruism. Their perspective on negative events shift, helping them mitigate feelings of anger, resulting in a more peaceful presence.

Giving compassion to those you may dislike or not agree with can reduce feelings of resentment and hostility, alleviating strains on the relationship. This form of meditation can bring peace, joy, and connection to your life.

TRY IT YOURSELF- SEND LOVING KINDNESS TO SOMEONE:

Find a comfortable place to sit or lay down.

Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to relax your mind and body.

Try and visualize the person or people you'd like to extend compassion to.

Notice your heart center. How does it feel? Do you feel openness, tenderness, or even anger?

Sit with those emotions for a few seconds. Breathe through the feelings that arise.

Continue to visualize the person or people as you breathe.

Imagine a beautiful, bright golden light extending from your heart to theirs.

Every time you exhale, extend this light further.

As you breathe, repeat these phrases silently, focusing on extending this loving energy.

May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be free from all pain. 
May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be free from all pain. 
May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be free from all pain.

Take a deep breath in. And breathe out.

And another deep breath in and let it go.

When you’re ready, open your eyes.

Notice the state of your mind and how you feel after this meditation.

Remember, compassion is a quality that can be trained through exercise and repetition. And, focusing on others’ well-being, makes us feel better too. 

~ May you know wellness and peace.