Anger is the one emotion that is lateralized to the left hemisphere. Anger is the perception that outside events are provoking you to feel hostile. Its an external locus of control, meaning you see yourself as a victim of outside forces. To deal with this emotion, somebody else or something else needs to change.
Just how often do you experience anger? You might spend a day paying attention to your inner dialogue and record fleeing thoughts that trigger anger. Your left hemisphere is busy interjecting judgments and reminders of things that bother you. They tend to recycle themselves. Then there are new triggers from your interaction in the world, but even then, they seem to follow a pattern. Your left hemisphere claims the right to never be offended, the world not to cause you frustration, for others to not disagree with you, the world to always be organized and efficient, society to follow your standards of correctness, and to never be rejected. By now, hopefully, you understand that the left hemisphere is very self focused and sensitive to its image of always being right.
There are times when you should become angry, but these are reserved for things that happen in real time and in a relationship when someone is being harmed. In these situations, all responsible humans would feel the need to take appropriate action energized by their anger.
When your anger is triggered by your perception of injustice to you caused by the outside world, you know you’re in your left hemisphere and need to get out. This is where you start. It’s the awareness you are on the wrong side. Pay attention to your body and allow it 90 seconds to calm down. Then return to the first two lessons. Start moving your body gracefully and soften your eyes. Identify your location in space and time. Notice where you are. Your sense of self and consciousness merge with your body in real time.
Your right hemisphere has the ability to re-frame the event for you. It’s like an older sibling telling the angry younger, ”Let it go. Drop it. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have all the facts. It’s not about you. You’ve blown this up way out of proportion. It’s not that big of a deal. Move on.” Your right hemisphere will begin to show you how to see this event from multiple perspectives. There are many ways of interpreting the situation, and at least one will neutralize the anger. The right hemisphere desires peace of mind and being present to what is happening in the moment.
You use anger to teach yourself acceptance. Acceptance doesn’t mean that you necessarily agree. Acceptance means you’ve acknowledged you don’t have the power to change it and you’re letting go of the negative energy attached to it. As a byproduct of this you will seamlessly engage in forgiveness, patience, and goodwill. This leads to calmness. This takes all the struggle of trying to convince your left hemisphere that it should practice acceptance, forgiveness, patience, and goodwill. Your left hemisphere will will resist you every step of the way if you try, causing frustration and doubt. Strengthening your right hemisphere simplifies and offers true hope of actually achieving inner peace. If you want to change the world (and all the people in it), you must change yourself first. The more right minded you become the more you comprehend this.
The more often you practice this, the deeper and broader you will engage your right hemisphere. Your right hemisphere obtains permission to balance the power of your left. Your goal, as always, is to have your right hemisphere be the master and your left hemisphere your emissary.