Ask Me About My Humility

Where does anger come from? I think its close companion is a lack of humility. When do we get angry? When we are convinced that it is our position that is right (and just?)-- and someone dares to disagree with us. How could they? How can they disagree with us when it is so obvious (to us) that the basis of our beliefs and our conclusions are correct? And that we who profess these notions are so upright and moral?

Our anger stemming from the outrage of someone disagreeing with us is antithetical to the idea of humility. How to combat this? How to make our anger vanish and humility return? I focus on my morning meditations when I recount that for which I am grateful. Not what I am grateful for earning or achieving (through self-will), but what I am grateful for receiving—all of which emanates from God. 

Many disagree. They say that if you don’t embrace anger—acknowledge and express it—if you instead repress it, you will suffer psychological problems.

I beg to disagree. When we feel anger well up what do we do?  If that anger is driven by fear it can be destructive. When it is, we call it rage. Rage is not productive. So what is anger driven by fear? When we are afraid we might cower in a corner or become combative. Good results come from neither.

While it is not up to God to remove our anger, we can ask Him to remove our fear. And when our fear—usually related to the loss of something related to our ego or self-importance—is lifted from us, we can recapture the serenity we feel in the morning.

My mantra today is "I am strong, calm, and kind. At all costs”.