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Dealing With the Reactive Impulses of the Vital Nature of the External Personality · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We tend to be reactive by nature.
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  Something occurs and we immediately capture the
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  vibration and respond to it. Thus, we have outbursts of anger
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  when we are frustrated or feel insecure, or when something gets
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  in the way of some idea, intention or movement we want to
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  undertake. An example of this type of
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  instantaneous reactivity is the phenomenon of road rage.
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  Perhaps someone is driving too slowly or cuts in front.
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  There's a reaction of anger, and in some cases this manifests as
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  a confrontation and a beating, a fight, or even an attempted
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  murder. Many cases of domestic violence
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  are a result of reacting in the heat of the moment with anger
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  and violence. It is not just anger that occurs
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  in this manner. Many cases of sexual assault are
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  crimes of passion as they occur without premeditation when an
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  individual suddenly experiences the sexual force and does not
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  restrain it from expression. Basically, all of the vital
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  impulses are subject to instant activation when they are
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  triggered by some vibrational pattern reaching us or arising
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  internally based on some released cellular stored
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  response. Much of this occurs without
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  being filtered through the mental process, as encapsulated
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  memories, feelings, or vital reactions are triggered and play
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  themselves out before we can even consider how to respond.
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  For the spiritual seeker intent on transforming human nature,
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  these triggered responses represent both a particular
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  challenge and an opportunity. With mental control and
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  discipline, it is possible to withhold the reaction, but that
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  only helps if the instantaneous nature of it can be modified.
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  Otherwise, the proverbial horse is out of the barn before the
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  door has been closed. That is why adopting the
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  practice of shifting the standpoint to the witness
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  consciousness, observing the nature, is extremely useful to
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  the spiritual seeker. This allows the witness to
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  create a buffer to lengthen the fuse setting of the reactive
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  nature, thus giving time for considered response rather than
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  instant reaction. It is the attachment to the
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  external ego personality that allows the unfiltered reactions
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  to take place. It is the detachment from that
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  ego personality that is the first step in gaining mastery
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  over these reactive impulses, Shrioro Bindu observes quote.
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  The difficulties of the character persist so long as one
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  yields to them in action. When they rise, one has to make
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  a strict rule not to act according to the impulses of
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  anger, ego, or whatever the weakness may be that one wants
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  to get rid of, or if one does act in the heat of the moment,
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  not to justify or persist in the action.
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  If one does that, after a time the difficulty abates or is
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  confined purely to a subjective movement which one can observe,
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  detach oneself from, and combat. End Quote.
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  Reference. Srioro Bindu and the Mother
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  Looking from Within, Chapter 4. Ordeals and Difficulties, page
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  77.