470: An Episode About Anger | Jacoby Ballard

Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

In this episode, the social justice educator and activist Jacoby Ballard talks about a universal, or near universal, issue: anger. And, he offers us two mental skills that can help channel anger into something even more powerful and effective. Those skills are forgiveness and equanimity.

Ballard is a meditation and yoga teacher and the author of a new book called, A Queer Dharma: Yoga and Meditations for Liberation

Content Warnings: There are some brief references to sensitive topics, including trauma and suicide.

In this episode we talk about:

• How he went from an activist largely fueled by anger to a dharma teacher with a very different approach
• The sometimes useful role of anger in activism and the danger of being stuck in anger mode
• The subtle but powerful move of getting in touch with what is beneath our anger
• Using annoyance as a jumping off point for inner investigation
• Ways to work with anger and learning to discharge the energy in our body
• Forgiveness, including forgiving ourselves
• Getting over our need to be right
• Equanimity, or as Jacoby calls it, his “tussle with equanimity”

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/jacoby-ballard-470

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