Customer Reviews

Anger: The Inner Teacher

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This book divides a program to reduce, if not eliminate, anger into 9 steps. Pliskin notes the obvious in this book -- namely, that what you get angry about tells a lot about what you value highly. He also adds practical tips on reducing the intensity, duration, and frequency of anger.

Great book for improving an Orthodox Jew's religiosity.

You don't have to be an Orthodox Jew to benefit from this book.

For years, I suffered from anger and depression problems. I'm an intense person, and have had a tough life. I had a lot of therapy and read many self-help books, which were great for helping with my depressions, but they did not seem to help me much with my outbreaks of anger.

I tried a number of secular texts on anger management and anger control, and could not implement their techniques.

In desperation -- I am a deeply spiritual Jew, but not Orthodox -- I sent away for Rabbi Pliskin's book. I was skeptical of its effectiveness -- so many anger texts had not worked for me.

Rabbi Pliskin does not advocate becoming a doormat -- readers are supplied with ways to set boundaries, defend themselves firmly, or walk out of situations where they are being treated in a way that endangers their mental or physical safety. Anger is appropriate in certain situations.

His book is a mixture of traditional Jewish character development (mussar) teachings on anger and the findings of modern psychology in this area.

The book is written in a very comforting and supportive manner. Some of the texts I had read on anger before Rabbi Pliskin's book seemed to be written from the perspective of: "hey, stupid, stop doing that! You must get control of yourself."

Whereas Rabbi Pliskin takes the perspective that all of us are precious in the sight of the Divine Being, and should regard learning to treat ourselves and other people in a kindly manner as a positive, joyous spiritual task.

He regards chronically angry people as often having intense emotions that can simply be channeled in more positive directions.

Here is one terrific quote: "A world-champion boxer or a mighty warrior only becomes that way because of his regular program of exercises and practice over a long period of time. By consistently working on conquering anger, it is possible to gain an inner spiritual and emotional strength that is very powerful."

The book has been a tremendous help to me in this area. I was spending a lot of time being angry with myself and other people, and it was not good for anyone.

My anger has not gone completely away, but its manifestations are far less extreme and frequent.

I make a point of re-reading the book at least once per year, usually before Yom Kippur, so that I reinforce its insights. I owe Rabbi Pliskin and G-d a great debt of gratitude.

I purchased this book to help me with my anger problem, and even with just having read a few pages, it is already helping me with it.

I have suffered from anger, the inner teacher, from childhood, through a long adulthood and have accumulated a shelf of books on anger management and control. A little over a month anger free and I have found the miracle I've prayed mightily for these years. One key from the book is to record an audio tape or some other media key ideas to be listened to each day and night for at least thirty days. I learned about self-hypnosis and sleep learning during a running career where autosuggestion helped me improve my physical performance. The information in this book can help if read but being able to sleep with it playing is the ideal. I have great faith in the power contained in the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet which I also have integrated into my study of this amazing book. I'm not Jewish but I know a good thing when I see it. As part of my spiritual mission in this current life I plan on buying additional copies of this book to share with other people who I feel might benefit from it. I hope to connect with the good rabbi someday, somehow, to express to him personally the miracle I'm experiencing.

Bought this book at the suggestion of a trusted friend to help us deal with our mutual friend's classic anger problem. In the process of reading, I discovered that some aspects of anger were very much applicable to me. While I am not a person to get angry easily, or so I thought, the author makes a very compelling argument that things we don't necessarily associate with anger - frustration, annoyance,and many others - are all different aspects of anger, and I was certainly very guilty of it! Anger doesn't necessarily mean an angry outburst! Anyone can benefit from reading this book. Those with classic anger problems, those who are close to them, and those who think that they don't have an anger problem can probably benefit the most. Many practical suggestions of how to deal with the problem. Definitely eye-opening.

A year into owning this book, I started reading a page or two a day during breakfast before going to work. I'm not known as an angry person nor was I prone to shouting, but I knew that I sometimes speak and act from a place of anger. This book is teaching me much that has helped me in the work place and at home as well. I recently asked in a work meeting if people recognized that frustration is a form of anger. My colleagues were intrigued with this statement in a positive way and I was happy to bring Yiddishkeit into my workplace in an allowable way. Unless you're already a tzaddik, this book will surely improve your interpersonal relations.