Areas › Low mood and hard feelings › Working with anger
Choose one short remembrance to say the moment anger rises, and use it every single time.
A prepared word of dhikr catches the anger before it speaks for you.
Qur’an and Sunnah
In the remembrance of God hearts find rest (Qur'an 13:28). A word of remembrance, ready on the tongue, is where the heat meets its rest.
ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَتَطۡمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُم بِذِكۡرِ ٱللَّهِۗ أَلَا بِذِكۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَئِنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ
those who have faith and whose hearts find peace in the remembrance of God- truly it is in the remembrance of God that hearts find peace
Qur’an 13:28read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
Preparation beats willpower in the heat of the moment. One phrase, chosen in advance and used every time, interrupts anger before it takes over.
Bowen, S.; Marlatt, A. (2009). Surfing the urge: Brief mindfulness-based intervention for college student smokers. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors doi
Watching an urge rise and fall without acting on it (urge surfing) reduced smoking, showing urges pass on their own if not fed.
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
A rehearsed cue interrupts the automatic escalation of anger.
Where this sits: Mindfulness-based anger regulation.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.