Anger to Compassion to Powerful Love

The world is a little crazy right now. There is plenty of cause for worry, for upset, for

alarm. Wherever you may lie on any spectrum: political, social, economic or other, you see others who are worried, upset, even alarmed. And you may be experiencing stress, worry, alarm or even anger over issues in your world. Whether the issue is money, health, community, morals, environment, politics or even survival, lots of problems are up for consideration in the world today.

You may be angry about some of what is going on in the world. We all see eruptions of anger every day in the world, whether personal, inter-personal or collectively at the global scale. I have found that when I feel anger, I have to manage it or I suffer, and those around me may suffer as well. I have found that anger always, always comes from fear. “…all of us need to learn how not to fear fear itself, in which case, anger management goes beyond fear management and becomes tantamount to mind management.” Pavel Somov, Ph.D. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pavel-somov/mindfulness-practice_b_4208562.html

And mind management is intimate with emotional health. Per the National Institutes of Health, “…there is a powerful mind-body connection through which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect our health… Clinical trials have indicated mind-body therapies … can help to improve psychological functioning and quality of life, and may help to ease symptoms of disease.” https://medlineplus.gov/magazine/issues/winter08/articles/winter08pg4.html

There are countless mind-body therapies out there, and since we all have a unique set of experiences and preferences, no one therapy will work for everybody. But in the simplest of models, we all do have consciousness and it works through us in different ways. The mind has its ways. The heart has its ways. There are differences. Regardless of the model, the point is this: build a bridge from the mind to the heart and reinforce the capacity of the heart for compassion, especially in the face of the tendency of the mind to experience fear and the resultant anger.

The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education [CCARE] at Stanford points out:

“Compassion is ‘…a multidimensional process comprised of four key components: (1) an awareness of suffering (cognitive/empathic awareness), 2) sympathetic concern related to being emotionally moved by suffering (affective component), (3) a wish to see the relief of that suffering (intention), and (4) a responsiveness or readiness to help relieve that suffering (motivational)’ (Jazaieri, et al., 2012)” http://ccare.stanford.edu/research/wiki/compassion-definitions/compassion/

Compassion is a choice. Fear is infectious and easily spreads. We will reduce the degree

of fear in ourselves, in others and on the planet when we learn to make a different choice with intention and with conscious illumination. That illumination will come from your soul. Your heart will be the vessel of that illumination from your soul. Finding the most powerful way to that illumination of your heart & soul is a very personal process. CCARE has a list of “Related Organizations” on Compassion in Academia, Action, Education, and more. http://ccare.stanford.edu/about/related-organizations/ . The resources abound in today’s world. Take your pick. Start today. Do NOT trust the time. I have worked with Sri Kaleshwar and other of his certified teachers since 2008, and have been teaching his knowledge since 2010. I do not trust the time. Your world is begging you to step up, personally, now. First do this: measure the degree of your personal motivation to be free of the suffering of the bondage of fear and the resultant anger. Then take action.

We all experience anger. No judgment. Discernment tells us that learning to manage that anger is a key to our well being and our health on all levels, from personal to global. And science from the west and ancient science from the east are converging to tell us that compassion is more than a lofty choice, it is a directive for our health, even our survival, personally, inter-personally, and globally.

What is compassion, anyway, if not the union of love, wisdom and power?