Question: When I look at myself, it seems that my most prevalent emotion is anger. It’s always there. I frequently find myself caught up in what you call “mental movies,” remembering all the cruelty and unfairness that seem to justify this anger. I know that indulging in this does no good, but I feel powerless to stop these raging thoughts. What can I do? I really am weary of my own out-of-control emotions.

Answer: You already know that your anger is destroying you. It is — and it will. You also know, to your spiritual credit, that there is no justification for the endless self-defeat which giving yourself over to hostile feelings entails. The fact that you are tired of losing your life to these self-harming psychic states means you are ready for a change. Here is a new way to work with what’s been working you over.

The next time some hostile state takes you over, either in thought — as in remembering something someone did to you in the past — or in an actual moment of conflict with someone standing before you, take the following inner steps as soon as you can remember yourself to do so. Start by seeing that something foreign to your true nature has imposed itself on you, taken over your life. Once having done this, do nothing else except realize that while you may be temporarily powerless to stop the lower state from possessing you, you are empowered to recognize the negative state as the intruder that it is. This awareness, this conscious, unself-justifying awareness of your true pained condition, is what it means to put the Light on the problem. That’s your job. The Light will do its part if you’ll do yours. Persist until you are free!