How to calm anger

Have you been hopping mad recently? Some people temperamentally seem to be more easily roused to anger than are others. Yet, to some extent we all get irritated at times. We feel cross when others attack what we love like our child or pet animal for instance.

It could be something we love in ourselves, that when attacked, causes us a sense of wounded pride. We may experience `road rage’ in our heart, reasoning defensively in our head about it being the other driver’s entire fault.

We might then use our hands to make rude gestures or write letters making unreasonable demands. Offensive putdowns thrown at us in a condescending tone of voice also can get to us. Then irritation easily spirals when we retaliate in kind and the heated things that are said – which on reflection we often do not even mean – hurt both parties. It is possible to harbour resentment for years especially if we continually avoid someone or allow ourselves to slip into the habit of not conversing with them when we do have an opportunity.

Spiritual healing may be a relevant way forward. However making up may be easier said than done. In addition, not every attempt at reconciliation works. After all, it takes two to tango. We need to eat a little humble pie even if the other person does not. The trouble is as …..

Sharks are dangerous

(c) FreeFoto.com

According to the Perth Now News, a man bravely tackled a shark to save the life of a young woman. Trevor Burns a middle aged tourist was enjoying a snorkelling trip off the coast of Western Australia, when a 10 foot Great White sank its teeth into 20 year old Elyse Frankcom. She had been hosting a swim-with-the-dolphins tour when the terrifying brush with death unfolded. Surgeons had to extract teeth from Ms Frankcom’s wounds and

Hope for humanity?

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You’ve just had your laptop stolen. You are cross. These thieves are a ruddy nuisance. Then you remember you haven’t got a data back up. This happened to an unnamed university professor in Sweden. Only in his case the computer stolen contained ten years worth of work. Anyone would be devastated. So we can imagine his feelings when only a week later he received an envelope in the post containing a

Choose Happiness

Ten steps to bring the magic back into your life by Steve Wetton Aber Publishing 2007 pp 144

By his own admission, the author is no intellectual, yet neither is he a fantasist and what he reports has the ring of authenticity. He offers us the chance to find a meaning of life for ourselves and he does this by discussing his approach to positive mental attitude and the idea that whatever we get out of life depends on what we’ve put into it. He takes the view that many of us consistently undervalue our own potential. But more dramatically he illustrates his theme, encouraging us to learn from his mistakes. He shares his own experiences and that of others he knows – real life stories that keep one’s attention.

Wetton tells us something of his younger days – excessive alcohol consumption, womanising, and sometimes violence. Someone who hated all the numerous jobs he tried. Spiritually speaking he was lost. But he eventually found a path.

One job he had involved driving around in a little van visiting customers on a door-to-door basis selling stuff and collecting weekly payments. One particular day he was running late rushing away from a house call when he got back into his van that was parked on the driveway. “I looked over my shoulder and prepared to zoom into the street without any obstructions to worry about. But for some unaccountable reason I found my foot lifting off the accelerator and

£10000 hero

Several British news media have reported that a 22 year old was awarded £10,000 for helping to convict a rapist, and then donated this amount to the victim. Lloyd Gardner saw a Crime Watch programme on TV and recognised two women he knew and this led police to the rapist, Polish national Jakub Tomczak. Mr Gardner felt he didn’t deserve the reward and that he wanted the money to help the woman rebuild her life.

A Vision of Utopia

Turn on the television news and there is an almost overwhelming focus on financial mess, social problems or crime. So what actually is the meaning of life? When I look around me I can’t help longing for a better kind of world. Sometimes I feel we are so used to the unsatisfactory state of things that we have given up hoping for something better.

Is idealism completely out of fashion? Have we become too cynical to have a vision of utopia? Or are we too scared of being tarnished with the same brush as the fanatical extremists who have not been slow in broadcasting their own hate filled criticism of modern life. Perhaps I’m being hopelessly idealistic but surely society could be better. How can I find my perfect society? What follows are the prejudices of an idealist.

Can I find forgiveness?

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Spiritual healing can be needed for guilty feelings. Not all that is going on in our mind is the working of a true conscience. Some of us find ourselves at times on a guilt trip. Even if we have a sound mind, we may sometimes feel guilty over the smallest thing – without rhyme or reason painstakingly worried about something we have done that really is unimportant.

One example is children who, having been trained by their parents to follow certain rules, like never putting one’s elbows on the table at meal times – feel guilty when they have grown into adulthood feeling guilty if they ever break this rule. Other examples of illogical guilt are saying `sorry’ a lot of the time and unfairly criticising ourselves. Trying too hard to get friends to like us, feeling easily embarrassed when asking for favours or doing anything that might displease them.

Many hopelessly sick people feel constantly guilty. This may result from the suspicion that their sickness and fate are self-inflicted and their own fault. Alternatively, they may assume, more or less, the role of the utterly dependent child. Some consciously apologize for the trouble and fuss they are causing. (Our Western culture fosters a sense of guilt in most of us when illness places us in the dependent role). If we are dying, we may even feel as if we are forcing the living to face the necessity of their own deaths for which we suppose they will not be thankful.

Standing up to yobs

You are on a train and 30 drunken football fans are hurling abuse at you. What do you do? WalesOnline reported that Lisa Robinson found herself in exactly this situation.  After she had stepped in to try to prevent another passenger from being insulted, she said she became the target of hatred for the hooligans. When the … Continue reading Standing up to yobs

Smile or Die

Lecture on the Cerebellum and Procedural Control
by David Lister
Date: Sat, 29/01/2011 – 4:00pm
Venue: Swedenborg Hall, The Swedenborg Society, 20 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH

David Lister will explore the modern knowledge we have about the evolution of the brain, with particular reference to the cerebellum and is functions as described by Swedenborg.

Madeleine Waller

Madeleine Waller, Artist in Residence: Shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010  The Swedenborg Society are very proud to have the photographer Madeleine Waller as their current Artist in Residence. Madeleine was very recently shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010; her work Wet and Dry, Laura is one of 60 portraits chosen … Continue reading Madeleine Waller