ANGRY?
Recently I re-read Vernon Howard’s booklet, Conquer Harmful Anger: 100 Ways. It’s loaded with helpful insights into why we all suffer daily. After reading on the internet of someone’s angry response to a life situation in which this person thought he was helping himself, I realized that in reality he was hurting himself. The following excerpt makes so much more sense.
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41. The Pearls You have no right to angry complaints. You cannot complain over getting cheated, deserted, persecuted or anything else. You are exactly where you have chosen to be. If you choose something else, you will be somewhere else. A man foolishly seeking pearls in the desert has no right to complain of the heat. Stop wandering in the desert of complaint and head for the sea. Pearls are abundant there. Walk over and see.
42. Mental Relief If you can believe it, people cling to hostile behavior because it gives them something to do with themselves. They see peace as an emptiness, as a threat to their handy next move. They actually declare, “Well, since I can’t think of anything else to do I’ll just fall into another rage. They fear they will not find themselves in tomorrow. But anyone who endures his emptiness, who refuses to fill it with anger, will one day know the relief of self-release. Make it you.
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Inner Life Exercise
Do not put your happiness off into the future. If you are not happy right now, you will never be happy. Catch yourself in wrong states of mind and then simply give them up. Don’t ask how, just do it. The outcome of your efforts? You will be happy.
How incredibly beautiful! There is always a choice. The shock of seeing this in yourself is the necessary occasion that can shift a lifetime of suffering into a world of daily enjoyment. Sounds fantastic, but absolutely attainable… If we can be so interested in what is actually going on with our ‘selves’, regardless of the jolt to our self glorious pictures, we have a chance at a peaceful and happy life.
Some friends and I are working on the exercise of watching how ‘I’ bother myself all day… by getting frustrated, feeling self-righteous with anger as my ‘fire’, worrying over an upcoming event, reveling in thoughts of my self-worth~ and how no one recognizes the magnitude of it … Just watching for this and studying this un-wholesome nature and habit, robs it of the ability to torment my True Self… which really wants nothing more than to be content. Seek the Pearls!!
What is expected of us is so clear and simple. I love that anyone can do this Work and reap the rewards of it. Thanks to Vernon for giving us these pearls!