Unlike most books on anger management, The Cow in the Parking Lot doesn't teach you how to "contain" anger but to recognise that anger is not in the reader's self-interest. Scheff starts with a few assumptions: 1) Anger is a destructive emotion. 2) All anger arises from an unmet demand. 3) You can, if you choose, reduce the amount of anger in your life. 4) As you do so, the quality of your life will improve. You needn't buy into these assumptions, just be willing to experiment and to do exercises in which you look at some incidents in your life and the motives behind them. Beginning with the parable of the "Cow in the Parking Lot" the author shows how our expectations and conditioning create our reality and therefore our anger. By changing our relationship to our thoughts, we can greatly reduce how much anger we experience. Modeled after the bestselling book, The Zen of Running, the program begins slowly, with each step as simple as possible, and the process itself is self-energizing and enjoyable. To this end, the book will be illustrated by a New Yorker cartoonist. To laugh at ourselves in recognition is a positive first step. Scheff uses the wisdom of Buddhism in secular and pragmatic ways--thus making his important message accessible to a wide audience.
