Negative emotion, we all have them. So whether your a passive-aggressive who suppresses your anger or a rageaholic that let’s fly at the slightest provocation, anger can be one of the most devastating forces known to humans. In it’s most course form, it is the source of all violence - violence at the domestic, community and international levels. It is the source of ill feeling between work colleagues, family members and even the pain that can occur subtly in our bodies is a result of anger.
Anger has no good qualities, it destroys your relationships, your health and can even be the cause of you losing your life.
Is letting anger out the correct method?
Thanks to modern psychology, it is a commonly held view that we should not suppress anger. Psychologists say that suppressing anger can result in pent up energy, that may explode sometime in the future expressed as rage. While it’s true that suppressing strong emotions such as anger can over a long period have ill effects, letting anger out can have an even greater negative effect and it’s in the short term. Can you honestly think of any occasion when getting angry helped a situation? Sure, it might make you feel better at the time, but later on if you look back at that experience with an open mind, most people would agree that by getting anger they couldn’t articulate what they wanted as succinctly as they would have liked. Angry is that voice in your head that goes over and over the experience, working out smart and witty things you could have said. Now, if in that some situation you were able to calmly and perhaps even with aggression, expressed your views you would have been able to effect a better outcome. Anger and aggression are not equivalents but, that another story.
Also looking at it this from a third person point of view. Have you ever seen someone get into an argument while angry? They look silly don’t they! Anger distorts our perception not to mention distorting our physical appearance. Anger makes everything seem threatening and hostile. I’m sure they’ve heard these words before don’t get anger at me, I’m not the one you should be anger with. Anger can even make the people who are trying to help us seem difficult.
Anger can also have a massive effect on our physiology, in extreme cases it can lead to disease.
Certainly in the short term it changes our appearance - even super-models will look ugly when they are angry!
I will become like a Sponge?
Learning to deal with your emotions is a part of the process of becoming an adult. As children we don’t always understand why we are feeling angry and so forth, and this can lead to frustration. Wanting to eliminate this frustration becomes paramount, and that is why anger seems to be an attractive solution - it’s gratifying in the short term - and we carry this short sightedness through into adulthood. We see anger as a solution because in the short term it makes us feel better just as it did when we were a child. Part of the process of seeing through anger or letting go of anger is to see with wisdom that anger is not a viable solution. We must clearly see and know with certainty that anger is no longer a solution that can effect any positive outcomes in any situation. This does not mean that you should become a passive sponge soaking up everyone else’s anger and negative emotions. It is also not a case of just turning the other cheek! It is possible to engage hostile colleagues or whoever, even with aggression in some cases but, not never with anger.
Many people when first hearing these methods immediately do one of two things. They agree and think that this practice is about not responding - this just reinforces their door-matt-ish type behavior. The other is to not agree, because for them this would mean they could never stand up for themselves. Both are incorrect! All that is being said here is that anger not your actions are the problem. It is true however that as your anger diminishes you do become more passive but it is in no way because of a weakness rather you find said when confronted by anger or difficult people thinking…ok whatever! Your not affected by their silly childish actions.
Ok hopefully I have convinced you to read further 
Seeing through negative emotions
Firstly we need to clearly see the effects of anger by meditating on anger and the direct opposing force of anger - Metta or Loving-kindness. There are some people who don’t like this meditation, they don’t like generating anger but, it’s ok! Generating anger in a controlled environment is permissible. Just as scientist may handle dangerous chemicals when conducting experiments, so we can safely generate minds like anger in order to conduct experiments. We do this by following a meditation I presented a couple of days. The meditation is a guided meditation on the conventional nature of mind, the ultimate nature of mind and then a meditation on generating anger and loving-kindness or in Sanskrit it is called Metta. Read through that post and in particular meditate on the generation of anger and Metta. The stronger you can generate anger, and then loving-kindness, the clearer it will be to you that anger is not a reasonable solution.
Your ability to see through anger is largely brought about by experiencing - preferably through meditation as that experience will would stronger and deeper - the ill effects of anger itself. This is done by meditating on anger and then loving-kindness. By meditating on anger in a controlled environment, we can use a small part of our mind to observe anger and the accompanying minds and feelings it generates.
For those who did not go and read the post on generating anger and metta I will go over the meditation in abbreviated form now. But it would be better if you use the other post as a guide for your meditation.
Anger
Generate anger, let yourself get into an angry state of mind by observing someone who you finding supremely annoying. Someone who is difficult to communicate with, someone that you just don’t like! Then once that mind of anger has arisen, from a corner of your mind, observe the feeling of anger. Is it painful? Observe the impulse aggregate. That agitated impulse to lash out and harm either verbally or physically. Is that constructive? The labeling or perception of anger – this is my enemy! Is this truly valid? Would their mother feel the same? Observe the consciousness aggregate. How anger distorts your view making everything not just the so called enemy seem threatening. Then observe the form aggregate. How anger makes your body harsh, tense and agitated. Take the time to generate each of those states. You should spend at least 5 minutes on this or until you clearly see each point. The longer you can stay on this part the more affect the next section will have.
Now turn your attention to loving-kindness.
Loving-Kindness
Generate the mind of loving-kindness by remembering someone who is very dear to you. Someone who has shown you great kindness, who you care for deeply. Remembering that person, remembering their kindness and all that they mean to you, allow a mind of loving-kindness to develop. Remember the person to the point at which loving-kindness is generated, and then concentrate on just the mind of loving-kindness - moving your object of observation from the person to the mind of loving-kindness itself so that it completely fills your awareness. Then as you experience loving-kindness, look at the components of that experience – the aggregates. The easiest to see is the aggregate of feeling. The wonderful feeling of the mind of loving-kindness. The impulse aggregate of the mind of loving-kindness - the emotion or movement of friendliness. The movement to help not harm. Then the aggregate of discrimination of loving-kindness - the way of labeling or describing loving-kindness - the wish for another’s happiness. What we are feeling now is the experiencing of the wish for another’s happiness. Then observe the consciousness aggregate of loving-kindness - the way loving-kindness effects and influences our view of the world. Then the form aggregate in relation to loving-kindness. Some of you may even be able to identify to endorphins or at least a soft warm feeling through the body.
Then gently release your concentration and finish the meditation.
Once you have mastered that you can move onto more advanced practices like seeing all things as like an illusion.
Anger Meditation dealing with emotions
In 2007 His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was a part of an Australian conference called happiness and it’s causes. It brings together clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and Buddhist practitioners. I think this is a wonderful idea having a conference on the causes of happiness is something that really serves the community as a whole well. Don’t you think? 
