Hi Mike,
While emotions may begin as a result of thinking, once you have an emotion, it can affect one's ability to think, to act, or to feel. That's what Carrington's "releasing" is about. Eliminating the tendency to want so much that it has a negative effect on overall function.
Think of it this way: we all have some immediate ability to let go, if we have a troubling feeling. For example, imagine that I get hysterical about paying a bill. Then I suddenly think, "Gee, aren't I getting too hyper about this?" Then the hysteria goes. I'm still left with a troubling bill, but my thinking is much calmer, freer, to deal with it.
The problem is that folks don't know how to release when they need to. That's what my proposed workshop is about.
Since you talk about actions, Mike, I am interested in exploring those kinds of mental and emotional actions that diminish the overpush of wanting too much. Since these actions tend to produce less compulsivity and a deeper sense of harmony between one's self and the external universe, one's self-esteem goes up:)
Best wishes, amigo,
Mike Rael, MS

I don't think expressing anger is necessarily a "bad emotion." Often it is the catalyst to act or facilitate change-either personally or publicly.
If following eastern disciplines of mind over matter are so healthy-why do multiple millions continue to live as slaves under communist rule?
anger can be very good

Hi Lucky:) First off, I don't say that the methods of Carrington and the methods I am currently developing will work all the time for all people. My intuition, though, whispers to me that about 80% of the time or better, when learning the various tactics of releasing both Carrington and of myself, the problem will be better than before. Often, in my experience at least, *much* better!
Anyways, do begin answering your question, Lucky, first you have to learn what releasing is and that it is natural to man. Next, if the emotion is very strong, I might begin by wanting to release only 1% of the emotion. The first way to do that sounds paradoxical, I know, but it is not contradictory. You ask yourself: Could I let go of 1% of my desire to rid myself of this anger? If you still have trouble releasing, you might change the question in this way:
Though it is perfectly reasonable to not want to feel this strong anger, could I let go of 1% of my desire to get rid of my anger? The ultimate reasoning behind this lies in the nature of emotional psychology. In the realm of emotionality, what you resist persists. If you can lower the urge to push away anger, even very slightly, that opens the door to a deeper acceptance of anger. In turn that permits the anger to run through your body and eventually flow out of it. That's what I teach in releasing. That's what I have used in my own life to dramatically change the quality of anger I have had--and for the better! About equating the release of strong emotions with tantrums: first, please be clear that this is not the kind of releasing I practice or teach (though I have found a symbolic expression of raw anger to be of help sometimes when put into a mental vision with the purpose of lowering my appetite!) I do not teach the deepest expression of anger because I have not been trained to know when is the best time to do so. The expression of anger by a couple in the presence of a trained psychologist is the opposite of giving vent to a tantrum. You are in the presence of someone who knows what to do to change things should that particular exercise not prove helpful to the participants. In any case, as mentioned, I do not engage in that work because I have not been trained to do it properly. There is no such thing as a bad emotion. Emotions, as Rand and Branden have said, are associated, in part, with the thinking one does or one does not do. One's past thinking might contain germs of knowledge not otherwise obtainable *without* experiencing that emotion. Reason, though, is the only means we have of *knowing* that the ideas that come to light when we experience an emotion properly (as when they are appropriately released) are, in fact, "knowledge."

If you are interested in a deeper discussion, then see MikeReal's "Introduction" under Education. A lot is going on here. We all seem to mean different things by "releasing" and "expressing." You can say by identification, "I feel angry" without actually throwing a tantrum. On the other hand, denying anger, repressing it, does not make it go away. You just get headaches or ulcers or depression or some other expression. My experience in politics is that a strong external focus on national and world problems really is an expression of something deeper. One of my hobbies is numismatics; and for about six months last year, my wife and I played weekly "Dungeons and Dragons." We both work in IT. In all of these I meet a lot of people who focus on things other than their internal selves. Over the years, in addition to the works of Nathaniel Branden, I have taken classes in yoga and taichi. I see these all as tools - just as a carpenter needs more than a hammer.

:)