It’s a thankless task to observe that present negative emotions can be reduced to two: anger and sadness. Thankless because the recognition of this dichotomy may initially suggest to you that there is no way out.

You lose something: sadness.

You believe you’re being encroached upon or threatened: anger.

You sink into the poignancy of realizing, in your bones and heart, that all things dear to you fade away and perish: melancholy.

You’re assigned a task that you deem to be beneath you: peevishness.

You simmer, without expressing it, in not getting what you deserve or in feeling that you’re being put upon: resentment.

One you thought was a close friend disappoints you: sorrow.

You open the piece of mail with nervous fingers and scroll down to “regrettably”: that sinking feeling giving way to dejection.

You recall someone you only imagine having taken advantage of you: vengefulness.

You, being prideful, balk at being put in a position of powerlessness: fury.

You, being dark in spirit, slough when put in the position of powerlessness: the crestfallen blues.

Though sadness and anger come and go, they can feel persistent, unavoidable, endless (“Delusions are endless,” Buddhists recite. “I vow to put an end to all of them”).

Until you let the ego drop and realize your true nature. Then, oh then what liberation!