Demon of Anger
- By Janis McGrath
- Published 06/11/2008
Janis McGrath
I am co-owner of an internal martial arts/healing arts school. We teach the arts of Hsing yi, Ba Kua, Tai Chi, and QiGong. Our students are dedicated individuals willing to do the hard work it takes to achieve excellence and spiritual growth. I am the written voice of my partner who has taught martial arts for 15 years. He rejected a death sentence by western doctors and sought healing and life through the Eastern Healing and Internal Martial Arts.
The words that follow were written by my business partner, John. He continues to struggle with the demon of anger each day.
ANGER IS A CONSCIOUS CHOICE
BROUGHT UP BY PROGRAMMED MEMORY OF
PAST EXPERIENCES WHICH ARE ACTED UPON
RATHER THAN RECOGNIZED AND UNDERSTOOD.
Most of us cry for the wrong reason. We cry because of the emotion we feel from our interaction with others. Anytime someone brings this emotion up in us, we recall all the emotionally similar situations and relive this pain and suffering. I am sorry to say, most of us cry to remember. If we didn’t, we would cry once and never have to cry again about the same situation. What does this crying have to do with anger? EVERYTHING. The person who feels the hurt, but refuses to show and release the pain by crying, internalizes the pain, represses the anger, and stores it in the body to be released in small amounts anytime the proper trigger or thought memory pattern trips the switch to release it. The problem with this is the amount of anger we store continues to grow like cancer every time we go into memory pattern. Anytime we release our pain in small amounts or large amounts, it opens the original wound with the possibility of refilling the void we have just released. In reality, we never move an inch towards healing unless we stop reliving the pain and empty the body and mind of all stored pain and memory. The final step that seals the body from this memory is forgiving our self and all others involved. Remember, we draw to ourselves, by our own actions, thoughts, and words, what we need to learn from in order to grow and evolve as spiritual beings and as teachers to those who follow behind us in the path and evolution of life. So, I have to ask you, how are you living and what are you showing those around you? Do you live your life in a stuck memory pattern that plays like a broken record, constantly skipping back to where it started? Or do you show those around you, those watching you, a path to freedom and a way out when they are feeling lost, forgotten, or ill-equipped to understand life and the lessons it brings to them?
My words:
The decision or choice not to live by anger is not an easy one, nor one easily held to from this day forward. It is a choice to be made every day, sometimes every minute because there will be frustrations, annoyances, challenges brought to us each day. When we recognize that each of these challenges is not meant for us to fall into but to stand strong against and see as a mere exercise for us to test that strength and resolve, we learn the lesson and succeed in the challenge. When we understand that the people around us are not deliberately defying us, but instead that we are testing ourselves by allowing external influences to draw us off of our internal center, then we come to know that it is by our conscious choice that we remain calm; that we remain patient; that we nurture and encourage, rather than berating and shaming. As we watch the ripple effect of our emotional choices on those around us, we gain motivation to refuse the anger and choose harmony.
