We’ve discovered that we were created to have a victorious life. We have exposed all of our unconscious and unworkable ways of processing life, (see Climbing Out of the Shell), learned to live in the present moment, (see Climbing Out of the Shell 2), and deduced all of our false fears so that we may cast them out, (see Fear No More).
What now? You are ready to start finding your divine peace:
“I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” Jn. 14:27 NLT
Christ gives us the peace that transcends the practices of hell on earth. We reach for that peace by resting in His presence – through prayer, godly deeds, meditating on the gospel and acting it out.
However, when we dip our feet into the ways of the world, we are experiencing and practicing the opposite of peace, i.e., anger, which we know is a form of a human construct of fear, (see Anger Kills and Revealing the Hurt 2).
God only practices righteous anger. If we would do likewise, we would understand that it is a thought-energy framework that is meant to stir us up to take action. Then we can help ourselves or others when we / they are facing a harmful (unrighteous) situation.
Conversely, the anger that most people practice is what was unconsciously modeled from what they saw or experienced as a child. This ‘worldly’ anger manifests because it’s stored within them.
If you stop cultivating your anger, it will dissipate.
Most anger exists within the framework of relationship. So, the first thing to do is to eradicate anger from your relationship with yourself. We’ve already mapped out the procedure many times. Sit still and look deeply at your anger, discover the meanings at its roots, forgive yourself for projecting that anger upon yourself and others, and start seeing all things through God’s eyes.
Our behaviors consist of the manifestations or our assumptions about life. Assumptions lead to rigid self-righteous belief systems and dogma that we fortify with our self-justifying anger – all of which is the stuff that wars are fought over. Thus, the most loving thing that we can do is to dissolve those beliefs. Then we can stop acting them out.
When we react with anger, we’re like a cornered animal – dangerous to ourselves and those around us. However, now we are learning to disassemble our old self.
As you sit with your anger, acknowledge it as an emotion – nothing more. Claim your experience, saying to yourself, ‘I am feeling anger,’ not ‘I am angry.’ You are not your emotions.
Look at the sequence of thoughts you entertain before your anger manifests by asking yourself, ‘What internal dialogue am I listening to at this moment?’ It will always be something that you haven’t been accepting about yourself. You have connected whatever that is, to an emotion. Every time it comes up, you are triggered.
As we have been doing, we look to extricate ourselves from this aspect of our unconscious training from that voice in our head, focus on our breathing to break that reactionary anger habit, and act with intention towards understanding. Anger is always born from misunderstanding – either regarding something about our persona, or about the intentions of others.
Address the fear behind the anger by asking yourself, ‘Is there anything that I need to be afraid of if I accept the unconditional love of Christ and love myself unconditionally as well?’ I assure you, there isn’t.
Look to see what you’re not accepting about yourself – those false flaws that you believe you have. Ask yourself, ‘Is that really so?’ ‘Do I know that to be the truth?’ The lies will reveal themselves, and your long-forgotten divine peace that was planted in you by God when you were born, will return.
Don’t deny or resist your anger. Accept that part of you has been living angry. Let’s tackle the most common roots of anger to bolster the flow of your peace:
You don’t like something
Practice acceptance, which is not the same as resignation. To ‘accept’ is to acknowledge the existence of something. To be ‘resigned’ is to give up hope for any possibility of change.
If there really is something that you don’t like, and it cannot be changed, you must change the way that you relate to it. There is no reason why you cannot be happy and peaceful in any situation, if you learn how to embrace whatever life offers. Don’t waste a single precious moment on things that steal your joy, (e.g., anger).
When you eliminate all of the ‘preferences’ that you believe must be met for you to be peaceful, you can touch that peace in any moment. It’s already inside you, waiting for you to let it out. Then, anger won’t be able to find a home in you, or at the very least, its stay will be short-lived.
You want life to be other than it is
Question the preferences that you hold, that you use for deciding what is true. We don’t know the true nature of life when we live unconsciously. Instead, commit to continually being conscious, so that you can shed your assumptions and stop trying to change life and the people in it.
When you cast your distractions behind you, you’ll be able to see what life (God) is offering you, even if it’s a lesson that you don’t particularly want to learn, (i.e., lessons that uncover where and how you stop yourself from living a fully engaged conscious life).
You see others as the enemy
Realize that people the world over suffer in the same manner as you. Look at why these people get your goat and see what part of you is offended.
Even if someone speaks or acts in a derogatory manner, they are only doing so against an image that they have concocted about you, or to the mask you may be trying to project. Regardless, you can either correct their misconception or walk away – knowing that their opinion of you isn’t personal. Therefore, it’s meaningless.
You may also ask yourself, without self-judgment, ‘What may I have done to bring that behavior out of them?’ Or you can consider that only people who are suffering would project that onto others. Compassionately ask yourself, ‘What must they be going through that would make them act this way?’
Respond to this person the way that you’d want someone to respond to you if it was you doing the suffering. Extend love, kindness, compassion and an open ear, without judging or trying to change them.
Apply grace in the same way Jehovah grants you grace. Who doesn’t deserve love and acceptance? Especially because we all know intimately what it feels like to be without it.
You are resentful for having to suppress your shameful secrets
The solution is to confess, repent, atone and return to living from your spirit. It’s far better than punishing yourself or others and it restores healthy relationships.
Breath out compassion when you feel anger. Send it out to all people who are suffering from the same automatic way of being. Wish them happiness and freedom. Beginning with yourself, make friends with everyone, even if they don’t want to.
You are not a bad person. You’re just living your life that best way that you know how – just like everybody else…
Peace and joy are what happens when we love and accept ourselves and when we embrace the Father through the Son – letting all divine peace and love flow through us. Then we can see life as the incredible gift that it is. It’s always available when we stay in truth and reality, living as our genuine selves by walking with God.
Finding your divine peace will be an easy task when you accept your experience of life, rather than just having a belief about it. Trust Jesus and let your suffering over the meaningless meanings wash away. Take nothing personal, give up the search for happiness, and just be happy and at peace.
It’s our natural state…
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Jn. 16:33 NLT
Goodnight and God bless.