Zen Tips for Self Improvement

Recently, I was on the set of a film and I got into a huge blowup with the director.  This person is largely sarcastic with myself, the producers and anyone else he encounters, even though all of us are pretty much working for free.  Over the course of a 3 month period, I have held my tongue on many occasions when he has made inappropriate comments to me, but I guess I reached the end of my rope the other day.  Sadly, I exploded on him and called him on all the BS he has been spewing to everyone.  In the heat of the moment, I felt like I was not only standing up for myself, but anyone else he has been rude with on the set.  At that moment, I did not care of I got fired off of the movie or who else heard me.  His bad behavior had to end at some point.

Does this scenario sound familiar to anyone else?  So what should a girl do?  Well, I pulled my bootstraps up, calmed myself down, breathed deeply and finished my scene with him.  I was well aware that everyone around us was wondering if I was going to walk off the set.  Because I knew this, I knew it was imperative that I called upon all the powers of zen to calm myself down and still do the work at hand.

Once the day was wrapped, the director was on his best behavior I had ever seen and I felt a newborn respect from my peers.  Now, I’m not saying it is okay to rip into people. Actually, I am an advocate of not doing such things, but sometimes the stress of holding back your anger can hurt you more than holding it inside of us.  Fast forward to a few days and I actually feel lighter now that I have let go of some of the resentment that had been building towards this person. How does he feel?  To be honest, I do not know and he has his own crosses to bear.

I guess what I am saying is that we all have to find out own ways of letting go of anger and not letting resentment build.  We are all human and no one is perfect, but to forgive is to be human.  So I decided to collect some of the benefits of letting go of rage and anger. I hope the list helps you.

• Lower blood pressure
• Stress reduction
• Less hostility
• Better anger management skills
• Lower heart rate
• Lower risk of alcohol or substance abuse
• Fewer depression symptoms
• Fewer anxiety symptoms
• Reduction in chronic pain
• More friendships
• Healthier relationships
• Greater religious or spiritual well-being
• Improved psychological well-being

Feel free to leave comments to add to this list or to advise on techniques you use to let go of anger.  We would love to hear them.

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