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How to Let Go of Anger

2025-06-30 · Short · Ali · recording, 0:41 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Mindset, motivation and happiness · mode: Personal story

In a Short, Ali tells the parable of the empty boat, one of his favourite stories about stress and anger: most things that crash into us, like a driver who cuts us off or a colleague who misses a deadline, are empty boats not trying to hurt us.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The parable of the boat: you cannot be angry at an empty boat

  • ★★ Ali calls the parable of the boat one of his favourite stories about dealing with stress and anger: a man rowing on a foggy morning is furious when another boat crashes into him, until the fog clears and he sees the boat is empty, and his anger disappears. — 00:00:00

  • ★★★ The lesson Ali draws from the parable of the empty boat: most things that crash into us in life, such as the person who cuts you off in traffic, a colleague who missed a deadline or a friend who forgot to call, are usually not trying to hurt you but are empty boats drifting along with their own problems. — 00:00:00

    “Most things that crash into us in life are like empty boats.”

  • ★★ Next time something makes you angry, Ali advises asking yourself whether you are getting mad at an empty boat. — 00:00:29

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: parable of the empty boat

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