• Control Your Anger: Anger Management with Vedic Mantras
    by Banke Bihariji
    "This mantra is suitable for those who are unable to control their anger. Such people get angry at the slightest pretext and indulge in unreasonable actions which they later on regret. If you seriously want to control anger which is causing distress in your life, then this mantra can help you a lot. The meaning of this mantra is I bow to Vishnu who is calm and silent. If you start getting angry then start reciting this mantra and meditate on Vishnu who symbolizes calmness: Om Shantakaray Namah."
  • Desperate Prayer for Patience with Politicians
    by Brian Doyle
    "They are driving me stark muttering bubbling insane. They are nattering and preening. They are dissembling and speechifying. They are evading the question and mouthing empty slogans. They are attacking straw men of their own devising and calculating market share. Their words are wind and dust and meanwhile children starve and are raped and have no beds and teachers and doctors. They say they will do things and they do not do those things. They appeal to the worst in us so as to be able to make money. They send children to war though they have never been in war and do not know the savagery of what they are sending children to do. They abuse their power and sneer at the poor and condescend to the elderly and lie about their motivations and their biographies. They would happily soil every lake and river and pond and creek and rivulet with every imaginable searing death-dealing chemical if there was enough money in it for them. They would foul every square meter of air with choking smoke and ash if there was enough money in it for them. They do not care about our children and our children's children. They pose for photo opportunities on the way to church but they do not feed the hungry and clothe the naked and house the homeless and slake the thirst of those who are desperate. Dear sweet Lord. Give me the patience to be reasonable and call them calmly to account. Give them the startle of guilt and the ripple of shame. Make sore their consciences and shiver their arrogance so that they may puncture it themselves and so begin to achieve humility and be of actual honest genuine service to the least among us. This we pray, trying not to snarl overmuch. And so: amen."
  • A Prayer for More Respect and Civility in Politics
    by Frederic Brussat
    "O God of Peace and Diversity, the American political system is rife with incivility. We know similar situations exist in other political systems around the world. Today, we pray specifically that you will guide American Republicans and Democrats into the kind of mutual respect that is necessary to move the government out of gridlock so it can deal with the major issues of the day. We pray for political leaders and also for those rank-and-file party members who give them their marching orders. Opener of Doors, we respect the commitment and the passion of politicians and their constituents. But we are concerned that this passion is shutting doors rather than opening them. Give us the insights and the attitudes we need to change this pattern wherever we find it."
  • A Resentment Prayer
    from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
    "God, Please help me to be free of anger and to see that the world and its people have dominated me. Show me that the wrong-doing of others, fancied or real, has the power to actually kill me. Help me to master my resentments by understanding that the people who wrong me were perhaps spiritually sick. Please help me show those I resent the same tolerance, pity, and patience that I would cheerfully grant a sick friend. ... Lord, help me to avoid retaliation or argument. I know I can’t be helpful to all people, but at least show me how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each and every one. Thy will be done."
  • In Times of Anger
    by Mark Linden
    "In times of anger,
    and discontent,
    gently remind me,
    to think with my heart,
    and feel with my head."