Meditating With Your Anger

Anger can feel unbearable to hold—too hot to the touch. But when we can learn to engage with our anger with compassion and without shame, anger can have important lessons for us. This adapted Buddhist meditation helps us gently separate the anger from the story about the anger—the who, what, why, and when that generated the emotion in the first place. This may create space for new stories, deeper emotions, and the chance to learn something from our anger. Often, the moment we let ourselves fully engage with an emotion in the present is the same moment that emotion slips right through our fingers. Ironically, giving ourselves a chance to feel our anger is sometimes the most powerful way to let the anger go.

This meditation requires you to think about something that makes you angry. Please proceed with caution if you are in crisis or actively dealing with trauma. Please ensure you have the time and space to listen all the way to the end of this meditation.