Emotions that one experiences live in your body only for six seconds. Then why do we harbour anger and hatred towards people who have hurt us for years and years together? This is because of the thoughts invested repeatedly in the form of ruminations towards that person. This keeps the tiger in you alive. The anger is like a festering wound that keeps bleeding and is kept alive by thoughts of the hurt and injustice in the past.
Now, close your eyes and recall an event where you have been hurt badly—something you still feel angry about towards a person. You can then open your eyes as you would have recreated the emotions from the past. Read this metaphor a few times to tame the tiger within you and let go of the anger.
Imagine your anger towards the person who has hurt you as a baby tiger. When it is a baby tiger, it is very young and harmless. This is symbolic of your anger, which you hold on to as you are hurt due to the misgivings of that person. Your thoughts are now feeding the baby tiger. It eats more and more as you keep thinking of the hurt done to you by the other person. The more you feed the tiger with negative thoughts about the person, the bigger it becomes. Think again. What is the food for the tiger? The food is your THOUGHTS that feed the baby tiger, making her grow in size.
The tiger grows more as your thoughts relieve the hurt and reproduce the emotions. Now the tiger is very, very big. As it grows in size, it also becomes ferocious and terrifying. It looks as if it will hurt anyone anytime.
It is taking over your life, and you must retreat to a cage to protect yourself from the tiger. Do you realise you have become a prisoner of your thoughts and emotions? Your thoughts have designed your destiny. You have fed the tiger too much, and it is ferocious with anger and hatred.
You will nowfree yourself from the cage by stopping to feed the tiger.How can you stop feeding the tiger to escape the cage?You will stop and cancel the negative thoughts towards the person. Every time a negative thought arises, remind yourself about how WHO suffers. Distract with pleasant music or call a friend to chat. Breathe away the remaining anger that is upsetting you about the person. You feed the tiger whenever you think of the person who hurt you.
Whenever you are reminded of the event and person who has upset you, let the thoughts go over your head like clouds passing over the sky like clouds. You do not JUDGE those thoughts. They are there. Acknowledge those thoughts and let them go. Accept them and set them free. Read this metaphor every day for a month. You will realise that feeding your past emotions with more and more negative thoughts will only hurt you more. Remind yourself that it is time to forgive, forget and let go.
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