I have been meditating daily for the last six months. This has yielded some great benefits, such as the ability to maitain a stoic calm regardless of the circumstances and an enhanced ability to direct and maintain mental focus.
However, there is one unwanted side effect: My ability to turn on my anger at will seems to have diminished greatly. I am having trouble getting angry at the barbell for defying my deadlift.I don't get angry if someone wrongs me. I don't seem to get angry at anything anymore.
This feels like a loss. I like being angry sometimes. Hell, I like fighting. (Although there is a long time ago since I stopped doing that outside the ring.) My anger has always served me well, and I have always been able to control it well.
Is there any way to cultivate the ability to get that shot of adrenaline and boost of rightous anger on command while keeping the other benefits from meditation?
And before you ask, my testosterone etc level seems a-ok. I'm healthy, sex is great, I'm dominant and I feel good. (Apart from being a little too-fucking-zen)
[deleted] 11y ago
[deleted]
Icaruswasright 11y ago
Thank you.
Sure. But I want it.
This is why I posted here instead of in r/meditation.
Could you elaborate? Or at least point me in the right direction?
I've been training Krav Maga, Muay Thai and MMA as well as some submission wrestling, but never done this explicitly. I suppose neither of these are martial arts however.
From what I understand (Using Google and talking to an Aikido "master") the eastern martial arts seem to favor a calm relaxed state. (PSNS rather than SNS)
LinkFixerBotSnr 11y ago
/r/meditation
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caxica 11y ago
If anger and fighting are still things you like and miss, I'd say you need to meditate more on that
Icaruswasright 11y ago
What does that mean? How do I do that?
caxica 11y ago
Reflect on why you miss those things
Icaruswasright 11y ago
Do you have a point or are you just attempting to be wise?
[deleted] 11y ago
Passion for achieving goals trumps any kind of benefit from an emotional response.
Your question sounds like you're just growing up mentally but miss the good ol days. Happens to everyone at some point.
[deleted] 11y ago
There is an isn't a tradeoff. There's a tradeoff in that you gain more ability to control. But you seem to have gained this by a kind of dampening. You are internally squashing experience instead of letting them happen and then deciding what to do about the experience.
Stop your meditation practice and try to recreate an opportunity of experiencing that anger. And then watch it happen and instead of squashing it, learn how to let it wash over you. Stoicism doesn't necessarily imply experience dampening. Your method of control has more layers of growth.