A cure for irritation

May 27, 2021 | 45 comments

If you ever get irritated, bothered, and upset about what other people are doing around you, pray for humility! Humility will take that irritation away and bring you utter peace of mind.

Human mind irritation is pride. It’s the ego of mortal mind bloating itself up with self-righteousness, anger, resentment, mean criticism, harsh judgement, and selfishness. It’s an unpleasant experience because it indulges unpleasantness. It feels bad because it is bad.

Humility is a willingness to recognize a greater power in control than the perceived evil of the moment. It’s bowing to God, rather than to self. It’s having faith in good’s ability to overcome evil. It’s a position of dominion and authority that reflects God’s dominion and authority.

Humility is spiritual consciousness, a consciousness of God. There isn’t anything in spiritual consciousness to get irritated, angry, or upset.

As Jesus taught, “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth” (Matt. 5:5, NLT). A consciousness of God inherits all good things including equanimity, poise, grace, good health, and peace of mind.

Stay humble, and remain peaceful. It’s a happier healthier way to live.

45 thoughts on “A cure for irritation”

  1. Thank you, Evan , for this powerful reminder…just what I needed to hear and need to remember moment by moment!!!!

  2. Thank you for this today. I love the cursive writing pictured and wish schools still taught that skill. Will try to follow the good reminder. Many thanks again.

  3. Thank you Evan. Good to have this one brought to mind in such a brilliant “cursive” way.

  4. Flying today a very good lesson to take in my spiritual tool belt to be loving, considerate, and walk with great humility.
    Thank you Evan
    Much, much love to all mankind!!!

  5. Humility is asking forgiveness. As students of Christian Science we most always differ in our perspective from what is now mainstream thinking. As we behold God’s spiritual man and his perfection we are reversing the material vision of mortality.
    Human will is a mischief maker. I was completely upset and disillusioned when learning of a family member who so innocently consented to drugs for something ordinary and simple maturing would overcome. I railed at this as the one being administered drugs was so very dear to me. Being right about this may be called self righteousness. I was challenged and at times enraged. I scolded the mother of this child, created a rift between us as the differing opinion was discussed.
    Finally I asked forgiveness. And was granted forgiveness from the mother and from the child.
    It is still a challenge to deal with silently and it’s now between God and I as I pray for peace.
    I accomplished nothing with my outrage. But now am on firmer ground and can find confidence while material belief is being subordinated to spiritual sense. It took humility. There is only one right. Never human will. My prayers will be answered. Beauty and innocence are a forever reflection of God. Never defaced by drugs or human will.
    Thank you for your message on humility. Your messages are always most elevating and at the same time very humble. Traversing these different places in your simple camper being towed with a adequate car. That’s all you need to present a Divine message to the eager listeners here on SpiritView. Many thousands stand here awaiting the spiritual food you serve most daily.

    1. Wow
      awesome challenge overcome by prayer and the willingness to give way….
      Thank you for sharing this demonstration.

      1. Thanks for your supporting reply. Children under less than the best influence can be a heartache.
        They are so innocent and lovely.

    2. Thanks Evan. David, thanks for sharing. I can relate to your experience and being concerned about loved ones. This quote has helped me. From a previous Cedars Camps Weekly Metaphysical, Christie Hanzlik, C.S. wrote: “I strive to never worry about others because to do so would be a subtle form of malpractice because I would be accepting that a power other than God is present in their lives, or that God’s omnipotence is somehow less present in their experiences. Focusing the view of them as inseparable from Love, Life, Truth, and seeing them as a ray of light at one with the sun, divine Soul, and living in the realm of ever-present Principle”. https://cedarscamps.org/inspiration/article/grapple-with-and-overcome-any-and-all-supposed-powers-opposed-to-god/

  6. When I found myself getting irritated once at a housemate, I thought of the word friction and looked to see if Mrs. Eddy wrote anything about friction. Found this: Miscellaneous Writings , p. 104:14 Clothed, and in its right Mind, man’s individuality is sinless, deathless, harmonious, eternal. His materiality, clad in a false mentality, wages feeble fight with his individuality, — his physical senses with his spiritual senses. The latter move in God’s grooves of Science: the former revolve in their own orbits, and must stand the friction of false selfhood until self-destroyed.
    The “friction of false selfhood” was what was getting irritated! My real selfhood was in its right Mind and sinless and harmonious. When my housemate did something again which used to irritate me, I didn’t have a reaction the next time. The irritation had melted away without effort. Just that reasoning destroyed it. It was so pleasant not to react.

  7. Like, how many minds are there?
    Came to me at a time of huff-puff I know best, —
    Who was doing the talking, what was I seeing? A righteous me wanting to correct a wrong him or her. Is that thought coming from God?
    No!
    Is there a right mortal mind needing to correct a wrong mortal mind?
    a good mortal mind needing to make straight a bad one?
    a miserable mortal mind-experience needing the help of an enlightened mortal mind to fix it?
    No!
    There is NO MORTAL MIND! therefore, no mortal mind botched manifestations!

    “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all.” (SH)
    Which does not need correcting, thank you!
    Yielding to the fact of the ONE divine Mind erases every trace of mortal mind’s myths and myth-takes with the allness of LOVE, in all time, all space, all hearts.

    Amen.

    1. Hi, Diane! Is that a poem you’ve had published in the periodicals? If not… perhaps you could submit it. It’s wonderful!
      Thank you

      1. Amen, Dianes poem? I had to go back and reread it. What a great message. Thanks Evan again and again. Many wonderful comments so far.

  8. Thank you for this reminder this morning, Evan. I have been praying to get a better sense of
    humility for myself, and this is very helpful. I had this in mind, and mid-morning I went into the garden to have a break in the sunshine with my Science & Health, and the man at the back of us
    decided to start mowing his lawn. This so-called lawn was originally meant to be a field, and
    there used to be horses grazing in it, but this man who now owns the property decided to turn
    it into a lawn. It is quite big, and he mows it on a sit-on mower that is very noisy and makes
    a throbbing noise. I have found this intensely irritating – it spoils the peace, and it goes on for several days usually and sends me indoors when I want to be out enjoying the peace and beauty
    of the garden.

    So when this started up this morning, I prayed, acknowledging that there was only one
    mind – the Mind which is God – and this Mind is the mind of each and every one of us. I thought about the fact that God would not cause an annoyance to Himself, and therefore His idea couldn’t feel any annoyance or irritation. All that God imparts is of His own peaceful, loving nature, and we
    all reflect Him and His attributes which are all harmonious with each other. I prayed to love this man, and see Him as the idea of the one Mind, and that we are all living in peace and harmony.

    I wasn’t able to stay out there for long, but I felt more at peace, and the next time I went out
    the mowing had ceased. It will probably continue later, but I am resolved to stay more humble, and respectful of my neighbor, keep my God-given peace (which the Bible tells us no man can
    take from us) and see him and myself in a different light in future.

    How practical Christian Science is – there is a solution to every problem we face.

    1. Dear Maggie
      I can relate. I’m praying to establish a laser bladed electric mowing machine. Quiet, safe and efficient. No more revolving blades, no sharpening. Even automated. Time had come for huge lawns and small, Golf courses, highway berms, and more. The noisy, gas driven machines belong to yesteryear.. Perhaps I may be involved, I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter .
      You can be sure it will happen and very soon.
      Blessings,
      David

  9. I meant to add that there is a very helpful chapter in Miscellaneous Writing by Mary Baker Eddy on page 223 called “Taking Offence”.

  10. Timely !! Thank you Evan. I’m on it. I shall continue to shake off that which does not belong.

  11. Thank you! Exactly what I needed to hear. I got irritated inwardly with a student I was tutoring yesterday as he seemed not to be trying very hard and was resistance to making an effort to be careful, making the same mistake over and over again. Your post this morning lifted me right out of that irritation and self-righteous thinking. I just sent him an encouraging text this morning in preparation for his test. Thank you so much. I am humbled.

  12. A very good reminder at this time . Have been. Irritated by the
    Restrictions wherever we go these days .will practice this more
    Consciously .Thanks again Evan and all.

  13. Thank you Evan. Today’s topic certainly hits home to me. The struggle to overcome mortal mind’s irritable tendencies with the meekness mentored by our way shower. How often have I felt remorse and regret after over reacting to a loved one with irritation and self righteousness! These outbursts feel bad because they fail to see the true motives and heart of the one being reacted to. And seldom if ever does the flame and fury of righteous indignation heal the situation. Most often it reacts most heavily against the indignant one. So appreciate these eye-opening topics and conversations that always lead to spiritual progress. What a blessing this forum is!

    Also, David B., thanks to you for yesterday’s sharing of your precious song experience, and the singing testimony that followed. Your posts never cease to inspire and delight!

  14. Healing prayer is impossible without humility which is the gift and grace of Love’s love lived. Proof that the process of praying is on the right track is humility. Meekness and it’s mightiness are the healing result of loving prayer. The liberation and joy and indomitable power that comes through true prayer is a result of loving humility. I cannot heal myself or a patient unless I am humble and loving God and them and the mighty Science of Love which makes me feel reverent awe and trusting, grateful humility, instead of jaded, defensive, deluded, arrogant irritation.

    Humility is a requirement for repentance, and every healing requires us to repent or rethink and let go of, correct, and replace a mistaken belief and our own sins. Every healing requires humility for repentance and forgiveness and for more compassionate obedience.

    Replace the irritation with the irrigation of love washing away the mistakes that cling to us and the self-righteousness we cling to. Humbly let Love’s pure living water of meek reverence and compassionate wisdom cleanse and cool and and restore and feed us physically , inter-personally, spiritually. And cool tempers and heal the climate.

    Fortunately, most of my life I’ve been surrounded by people who are so extreme in their irritability and rigid outrage and abusive reactions and catastrophic consequences, that they really made it clear that if I did not want to be like them or be destroyed by them, I needed to think the opposite of what made them so quick to take offense. They made it clear that criticism and complaint and self-pity and reactivity (imagining that if they did not get their way that meant others were attacking them or if others had a different perspective that they were criticizing them and were therefore the enemy)… is addictive and self-destructive. The more they were going to addictive rigid self-righteousness and rage-aholism, the more ridiculous they seemed and less credible and the less willing others were to humbly extend them gracious patient generosity and support. The more they’re insisting on getting their way the more they failed and flailed and got in their own way. It only made themselves and others more miserable and more distracted and less able to focus on what was the underlying problem they wanted to solve and below that, what was the need they were trying to fulfill and the value they were trying to live.

    So as a young child I decided I did not want to be like them, nor the contagion, the cause, or the victim of their irritation and hot temper. Each abuser is self righteous and thinking that they are a victim and they look for people to blame and punish and it only makes them feel worse and worse and less able to I have strength of character and peace of mind and to get the respect and the love they hunger. When they give up their power to think and act rightly by blaming someone else then it makes them depended upon other people who we can never control so they try harder to be controlling people through scaring them or bribing them or hurting them or appeasing others. It makes one weaker to be giving up one’s own life to be ineffective trying to control other people’s life.

    After over a half century I finally learned about autism and the near constant sense of intense anxiety and fear and disconnection that is both the result of, and a contributor to hypersensitivity to perceived criticism and threat and painfully overwhelming hypersensitivity to sensory information and change. It is a perpetuation of post to medic stress disorder . This hyper irritability and fear of being overwhelmed results in a hyper willful superstitious rigidity, the false assumption that if one’s body or other’s responses are indicating a discomfort and need to change one’s thinking and acting is mistaken as life-threatening attack on one’s ego, the “I am right; you are wrong“ mentality, attempt to be hyper controlling or avoidant, and fear of transition or differences of opinion or routine. It leads to a sense of people being enemies at war.

    Those very same steps of illogic and escalation of fear and reactivity is intentionally exploited by war profiteers to move a population towards paying taxes and giving up their lives and resources and social justice in order to more violently attack and harm another country to get their resources. A woman who assisted me as a Girl Scout leader told me her father became wealthy by militarizing the police with the same mental process or insanity. The industry profits by confusing, scaring, and hyping cops during their beginning of shift rollcall to imagine the public as criminals and potential cop killers as a way to justify a more militaristic and violent approach that shuts off caring curiosity and conversation and cooperative teamwork. It increases the unhappiness and danger and poverty and crimes.

    This addictive escalation of the ridiculous belief that we are victims and that others are the enemy results in increased stress and medical problems and dumber and dumber decisions with worst financial and interpersonal and social and environmental consequences.

    The only way to reverse it is with the humility of love, and the compassion that comes from humble self-awareness and self-accountability.

    When we let the irritation and irritability wake us up to examine our beliefs and to edit the stories we’re telling ourselves so that we can more compassionately give ourselves empathy and meet our needs and live our values, our self empathy can lead us and strengthen us to give empathy for others and commit to helping them meet their needs and live their values. We thereby reverse the whole negative downward spiral and instead increase the contagion of compassion and gracious generosity that are the cause-and-effect of humility. Humility/love is the most basic Necessity essential for not just healing and prayer and the practice of sanity. Humility/love is essential to human survival and is expressed in every living being so that each plant and animal and other organism can learn and adapt and thrive. Humility/love is essential to enjoyment and is the expression of the heaven within us.

    So when you see evidence that I’m not being as humble as we would prefer I would be, you’re invited to love me and comfort me and replace my fears with an experience of the safety of Love needed for the courage to humbly re-examine and repent and replace mistaken beliefs and bad habits of personal sense. As long as I am experiencing this human dream I will need to be more and more humble and loving, and the more humble and loving you are, the more you help me clean up my mess and stop messing around in earth’s preparatory school of transformative compassionate meekness. Thank you for the needed reminder.

  15. This hits close to home because I love to talk to my brother. He has many wonderful qualities but often during our conversation he will say something political that I see as misinformation and get irritated and say something that is not loving about how wrong he is. Then I feel we can’t continue in a loving conversation and go away feeling upset at myself. Evan this blog really helps to see the wrongness of my reaction when in other cases as well I find the wrong reaction pulling at me even though I don’t verbally react and still feel irritated. God Is good and the only Mind. Anything else is not mine.
    I also had to smile at David B’s testimony yesterday. I find that singing hymns out loud bring joy and healing. This has proved to be true many times. Love to all.

  16. I was thrilled that today’s topic is humility. This is a biggie. Over time I’ve begun to see that the lack of humility, for me, is the issue hidden under all other issues. Self will and thinking “I” know what’s right is at the root of all my so-called “problems.”

    Lack of humility is not trusting that God is there, it is a false belief that I can be apart from Him. If I am in fear, worry, irritation, resentment, agitation, taking offense, annoyed or any of the many lies error tries to toss in our way, if I take a deeper look I see humility seems to be gone. That beautiful feeling of “utter peace” and stillness is there again when I settle into my true state of humbling myself before the One, all good Mind that is taking care of everything.

    1. That’s excellent, Rose! It’s interesting to consider that lack of humility is issue hidden under all other issues.

      Thanks for your helpful comments recently.

  17. Wow – this was exactly what I needed to hear today! Thank you so much, Evan, for this succinct and inspired guidance. I have already put it to work dealing with a situation that had me knee-deep in resentful thinking. With the guidance of your post, I have had a change of heart and thinking.

  18. this is so important. I have a situation that I attach myself to that I know involves accepting there are many minds out there battling. If I catch myself and drop it, the ball doesn’t keep rolling so to speak and then I would have a situation. We can see the value of keeping our peace over the moment of indignation at something ignorant, wrong, and thus irritating that we would indulge in. I used to tell me my children that sometimes all the reasoning back and forth truly ends up as yes or no to a situation. It’s not what the other guy is doing but what are you going to do? Keeping your peace is more important than anything else.

  19. How do you know the difference between humility and standing up for what is right. It can actually be that someone is doing something wrong. Is it pride when you stand up and say No that is wrong. Is is Pride when you say I will not allow that issue to go on or I will not accept being treated that way? Should we ever stand up for our selves or stand up for what is right?

    1. Oh you can certainly side with what is right. But do it with wisdom, grace, dominion, poise and love. It’s when self-righteousness, pride and ego get involved that often turns situations ugly. The Mind of Love exposes error, and inspires thought to side with the right.

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