The empty boat
Where does the anger go?
Imagine sitting in a small rowing boat in the middle of a misty, still lake. You are enjoying the silence. Suddenly another boat slams hard into yours from behind. Anger rises: 'What an idiot! Don't they look where they're going?!'
You turn around to shout – and discover that the other boat is completely empty. It has simply drifted with the wind. What happens to your anger now? It vanishes in a second. There is no one to be angry at.
The lesson: The anger was never in the event – it lived in your story about an intention behind it. The next time someone cuts you off in traffic or bumps you in the queue: imagine that person is an empty boat drifting on life's winds. Most people are not steering – they are drifting.
Think of the last time you got angry at someone. How much of the anger was built on your story about their intention?
Meet today's first irritation with the thought: 'Perhaps it is just an empty boat.'