There’s a moment — maybe in traffic, during a heated conversation, or while facing rejection — when you feel it rise.
The snap, the fury, the tightness in the chest. Anger. Fear. Urge to lash out or shut down.
Then something strange happens.
You notice it.
“I’m getting angry.”
“I’m about to lose it.”
“Why am I reacting like this?”
That right there — the observer in you — is the beginning of mastery.
It’s the moment you realize you’re not just the emotion. You’re also the one watching it.
The Human Duality: Beast vs Rider
Humans are not unified beings. We’re layered.
At the base is the limbic system — the emotional core of our brain. This beast was not added later. It’s ancient. Older than language, culture, or reason.
We inherited it from our ancestors — the ones who fought, fled, and reproduced their way through an unforgiving world.
It’s what helped us survive.
- It fires up when someone cuts in line.
- It panics when your status feels threatened.
- It remembers insults longer than facts.
- It reacts before your rational brain even shows up.
That’s the beast in you.
But then, evolution did something radical.
It gave us the neocortex — the part of the brain that can reflect, imagine, plan, and pause.
This gave birth to the rider — the observer, the thinker, the one who can say,
“I don’t have to react like this.”
What changed wasn’t that we became perfect.
What changed was that we became aware.
Now, in this modern world of emails, traffic lights, politics, and relationships — the same beast is still inside us.
But now you have a choice.
You can:
- Feel the emotion, without becoming it.
- Use the anger, without letting it use you.
- Ride the wave, without drowning in it.
Don’t try to Kill the Beast, don’t deny it. Learn to Ride It.
You don’t conquer the emotional part of you by suppressing it. You integrate it.
You let it fuel your drive, your courage, your passion — but you remain the rider.
When you lose control, it’s not because the beast is too strong. It’s because the rider fell asleep.
Every moment of emotional heat is a chance to strengthen the rider.
And every moment you pause before reacting is a small revolution.