Observing 'anger in ourselves from subtle beginnings to full explosions' means being mindful of the very beginning of anger and observing it through to its becoming full explosion. I'm sure there aren't many people who do that -- it seems to me to be a sophisticated level of observation. I was well into middle age before I began to do such observing. The value of doing such observing is to be in control of the experience and what I do with it rather than it being in control of me and automatically moving into harmful behavior. I can now sometimes notice the beginning of an emotion and make some decisions about what I want to do with it and how I want to express it -- I have and use it rather than it have and use me. I value when I do that. It costs me some spontaneity in the service of choosing my response, which I prefer in many situations. The practice of being present and paying attention to process as it occurs helps me develop such attentiveness, and constructive results help me delight in it.
On Feb 13, 2016 david doane wrote :
Observing 'anger in ourselves from subtle beginnings to full explosions' means being mindful of the very beginning of anger and observing it through to its becoming full explosion. I'm sure there aren't many people who do that -- it seems to me to be a sophisticated level of observation. I was well into middle age before I began to do such observing. The value of doing such observing is to be in control of the experience and what I do with it rather than it being in control of me and automatically moving into harmful behavior. I can now sometimes notice the beginning of an emotion and make some decisions about what I want to do with it and how I want to express it -- I have and use it rather than it have and use me. I value when I do that. It costs me some spontaneity in the service of choosing my response, which I prefer in many situations. The practice of being present and paying attention to process as it occurs helps me develop such attentiveness, and constructive results help me delight in it.