“Angry Selfie” Exercise

For many people, myself included, anger is one of the most common mental defilement. This has to do with our cultural conditioning: there is so much written about injustice, and how wrongs must be right-ed, that we tend to think we are “justified” to feel anger.

When we get angry, we also tend to feel powerful. This sensation of power can sometimes be intoxicating.

Thus, to address this, we also need to be aware of the danger of anger, which then helps us cultivate the revulsion towards that emotion. This increases our awareness of the emotion & its dangers; and over time, that then allows us to let go of the emotion altogether.

One such exercise that I’ve developed involves using your mobile phone, to take three types of selfies. You can try it below:

“Angry Selfie” Exercise for reducing anger

1. Take a selfie. This will be your “normal” selfie.
2. Now, think about something that makes you angry, and make the ANGRIEST FACE YOU CAN. At that exact moment, take a selfie of your angry face.
3. At this point you’ll probably laugh at yourself, and take the selfie of your laughing face.
4. Now, this is the most important part: look at these three selfies, and ask yourself, which of these do you like the most?
5. Remind yourself that the angry face is what other people see of you when you are angry.

Do you have any feedback on this exercise? Please let me know: feedback is love!

 

Where True Dhamma probably lies

Many people are confused by the different traditions, which all have different sayings.

This diagram which I’ve drawn, shows where the real Dhamma taught by the Buddha probably is.

And it is from this basis, of where the true Dhamma probably lies, that we should start our practice.

So by all means, practice compassion, read the Heart Sutra etc.

But imo, one should always reference the intersection illustrated above, and compare one’s practices to those in the true blue space.

Taking a slightly different approach…

I’ve not written this in a while, and I apologize: the programme I’m on is a lot more intense than I had expected, and this has sucked away a lot of my energy from working on this.

But as I reflected on this, I realised that I’ve been setting myself-up for failure: I’ve been conceiving of this course as this massive, well-prepared “block”, which I research and write-up and then deliver with perfection.

But of course, instead, life happens.

So I’m going to chip at this, one little bit at a time, through little blocks that I’ll try to consistently write, maybe daily, maybe weekly, but definitely whenever the mental state is as-right-as-it-can-be. And also when I don’t have the clear answers, too.