Article March 30, 2020 Issue

Manage anger or heal it?

Annu Matthai

Take a look at the news or social media and it often seems as if the world is full of angry people. Many people search for ways to manage their anger, and there are plenty of anger management methods to choose from. But is managing anger enough? Or can we actually overcome it?

A few years ago, I came across an article that explained that we react with anger when something happens that conflicts with our concept of how things should be or how people should act. That was quite an eye-opener for me. I realized that whether I was just mildly irritated or very angry, it was really because things weren’t going quite how I thought they should. With that realization, I began to see that anger is not forced upon us by some outward circumstance but is ultimately the result of how we think about ourselves and others.

That’s why I’ve found it helpful to turn to prayer to overcome angry thoughts. But prayer, as I’ve learned through studying Christian Science, doesn’t mean pleading with God. It starts with the quiet listening that Christ Jesus recommended when he said, “When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” (Matthew 6:6). As I’ve studied the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, I’ve come to understand that the closet that Jesus refers to is a mental, spiritual sanctuary hidden from all the clamor of the world. It’s our consciousness, where we are able to commune with, and feel the power and presence of, the infinite Love that is God.

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