You need to watch out for this one, you REALLY must, because the angry head monster is a really nasty one. It’s responsible for so much suffering in the world and along with is close cousin the hate monster, it’s the cause of wars and conflicts everywhere.
Every conflict begins with an angry thought which festers in the mind of the unaware. Be mindful and pay close attention to your thoughts or the angry monster will spread destruction, that’s for sure.
The angry head monster has come close to destroying all humanity several times and on a personal level it makes it’s host so isolated and resentful and miserable. It sows the seeds of aggression and projects into the world of discord and conflict and violence.
“I’m right to be angry claims the head monster” and that maybe true, and if an angry feeling is present in your body then so be it. But do you want to be angry? Do you want that anger drive your behaviour? Do you want to react from anger? Do you want that anger to spread and poison the world you live in?
The angry monster poisons the world and it poisons your experience of the world. How can you engage in the full beauty and aliveness of the world if you view it through a moaning mind? It’s impossible.
As I sit here writing this in the sunshine it makes me smile to realise that the man I overheard moaning about the rain the other day is right now likely moaning about it being too bright or something. There is nothing wrong with rain and there is nothing wrong with sunshine, in truth they are both amazing and wonderful but the angry monster doesn’t want you to see that. It wants you to experience the world through discontent and resentments, it wants you to judge and condemn everything and everyone as wrong. The angry monster likes to make you right and them wrong. But every time it makes you right it makes the rest of the world more wrong, and your prize for being right is more anger and miserable isolation, congratulations!
You see the anger monster feeds off your mind, it feeds off your angry thoughts and it feeds off the anger that it raises in others, it feeds off the conflicts that it possesses you to create and when it’s gorged on the anger that you’ve projected out into the world, it will move on from the main course and turn on you by inviting it’s mate guilty monster round for desert and they’ll feed off thoughts as they beat you up for what they made you do. A bit rich isn’t?
Everyone will see the anger monster sometimes and it’s really important that we are mindful and we watch out for it, but some people are completely possessed by it, so possessed that they don’t even realise that they are. They’ll blame out there and never look in here. They’ll say its other people or situations that is make them angry. They’ll see an angry world everywhere and never know it’s them, and that’s fine, but you know better. You are mindful, you can watch and see. Don’t be angry with them for that, because that’s more pain for everyone. Be mindful, watch yourself, because getting angry with someone else because they are angry is a good way to get horribly lost.
Don’t fight anger, because the angry monster loves fighting, it’s one if it’s favourite dishes. Don’t fight it, just notice it. Don’t let it attack you either by allowing angry thoughts about yourself. Stay mindful and just watch. Seeing it is enough. Because if you are watching the angry thoughts, then they are not you, they are just thoughts. And you don’t have to go where they take you.
So if you can’t fight the monster, what do you do? Well you do absolutely nothing, you say nothing, and you do nothing, at least until that feeling has gone. It would be a good move to take yourself away from the source of your anger, but do nothing and say nothing, because whatever you do or say will make matters worse and the angry head monster will feast for sure. You will say something hurtful like “you always do this or that” which is untrue, because they don’t, it just seems like it when the monster wants to feed. It possesses your mind and picks fights. So watch with mindful attention, realise the possession has starred and hide away if you can, until you are safe. When the angry monster has gone, discuss the issue then, if there is still one to discuss. But it’s amazing how often that issue which was so important that you wanted a fight becomes a trivial matter when the monster has gone. And pass it will if you don’t feed it.
Remember the first rule of monsters, don’t feed the monsters.
The angry head monster can jump out and catch you unaware, so be very mindful and aware. Sometimes it will appear from nowhere as an angry rage and be incredibly destructive. But if you are alert and watch carefully you’ll see that it didn’t just appear from nowhere, but has been sneaking up on you for a while. It may start by stalking you, watch out for it moaning and complaining, finding fault or obsessing about a mild irritation.
It will look for excuses and find reason for the irritation, this is how it grows you see. It will draw you into the resentful story and feed and grow, then if you see it becoming snappy and short tempered beware because the slightest thing can trigger a terrible rage.
Be mindful and awake and you can spot it before it does too much damage you can guard against possession by anchoring yourself in the now. Because if you are fully in the now you can watch your thoughts and quieten your mind and the monster will have no food.
It will try hard to drag you in, and you must be mindful and watch your thoughts closely, because the angry monster will lie to you, and try to trick you. It will tell you that not getting angry is weakness, when in truth it is self control and strength and it will claim you have no choice, but you do, you are mindful and can return your attention the present moment and deprive the monster of food.
I’m not pretending it’s easy the angry head monster is strong and it may drag you off many times yet, but the more mindful you become the less this will happen. You’ll see it creeping up on you more and more often and will not be able to drag you away so far or for so long. And if it does, then forgive yourself the straight way because, remember it will feed on the thoughts telling you off.
The angry head monster is a nasty one all-right it can be violent and spiteful, but it has no stamina, and if you catch it with your mindfulness it will burn up inside you and pass quickly and I’ve been reliably informed eventuality burns out completely. But that’s future and we don’t do that do we?
