“quieting stormy emotions” (Page 90, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions)
One way of doing this is to meditate in the modern sense.
One gains perspective on one’s mind by observing what it’s doing and returning
continually to the present, for instance.
Another way of doing this is to get involved in something
constructive and concentrate on that.
I had enormous difficulty with the former.
The latter I can do. When I’ve had a day of work,
concentrating just on the work, because there’s some pressure and I can’t
afford distraction, I emerge at the end of the day with perspective on my own
thinking, simply because I have spent several hours not engaged in it, and,
with the distance travelled, I see it for what it is.
The latter I therefore find very effective in quieting
stormy emotions, because the emotions come from the thinking; solve the
thinking, and the emotions are solved.
The bonus is that one gets a lot done, as well.