http://www.care2.com/greenliving/anger-is-an-energy.html
Anger is an Energy
Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools. ~Albert Einstein
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. ~Buddha
“Anger is an Energy.” ~ Johnny Lydon of PiL
You don’t need your family, Dr. Phil, or even an expensive three-day anger management retreat out in the woods to inform you that violent outbursts of anger are generally frowned upon in society and are far from constructive. While we, as Americans, are probably angrier than we have ever been, being actively angry is still seen as an apparent lack of control, lack of good judgment, and a general lack of cool. Anger as an emotion is more or less considered useless, in its most benign form, and potentially harmful and destructive when allowed to run riot over our emotional landscape.
Grrrr! So, what the #@*≈ are we supposed to do with all of this anger? Just reason it away? Sublimate it with lots of TV, chocolate, reflexology or pop psych?
Well, as unpopular as anger may be as an outward emotion, we need not abandon it completely as a catalyst toward constructive change. As the less than exemplary Johnny Lydon defiantly chanted in the PiL song “Rise”, “Anger is an energy” and we owe it to ourselves to harness its power.
In the “Nicomachean Ethics,” Aristotle wrote, “The man who is angry at the right things and with the right people, and further, as he ought, when he ought, and as long as he ought, is praised.” Extending this logic into the present day, we would be well suited to cultivate our anger into rational tangible change, at both the micro and macro levels. Instead of lambasting our friends and loved ones with fire-tongued invectives, we could approach the anger as propulsion toward change, positive change. This will give us the incentive, not to criticize and belittle, but to put into motion significant advancement in the inter-personal realm. This is anger at work on the micro level, and on the macro level would be something like the Equal Rights movement, the Civil Rights movement, and the Environmental movement, all of which had their roots in outrage as much as concern. Possibly, if we channel our anger appropriately and constructively, we might even be able to fix our ailing economy?
And lastly, as parents, we are no doubt privy to all sorts of feral displays of anger emanating from our children. This is undoubtedly energy that could probably power a small fleet of tanker trailers if harnessed appropriately. We owe it to our children, not to tamp down or stifle their anger, but to allow it to find a suitable expression and a worthy exploit.
How do you contend with your anger? Has anger ever served you, or is it something best rigidly controlled and mitigated?
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Kabin
Konteyner
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why is this inappropriate?
As I was saying when the character limit cut me off, I have since moved to a new apartment, and my mother and sister, as far as I know, have no way to get in touch with me. Which pleases me very well.
(If you are wondering why I didn't do more to protect my father: My mother had power of attorney and was watching me like a hawk. She enjoyed watching my sister beating on him. I bit my tongue and persuaded my sister that "Mama is too old to have to deal with this any more." I finally talked them into sending Papa to a rest home run by the same Catholic nuns who ran the hospital where he was chief of staff in his younger days. They all adored him and took very good care of him.)
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I also used my control of anger to get my viciously abusive mother out of my life for good. It took me 62 years to do it, and the only thing I am still angry about is that it took me so long. She called me up on an autumn evening to harangue me about not coming back home and living with her so she could "keep an eye on me." I confronted her with the fact that I was disabled and didn't want to live with her, because she had quite literally nagged my poor father to death and had my sister, who is strong as an ox and completely under her thumb, beating up that sick, blind, senile old man (he died of Parkinson's Disease and my mother's vicious mouth) because he couldn't keep up with her social schedule. I confronted her with all this, and she admitted it, saying that my sister had a perfect right to beat him up, because he said she wasn't as smart as I was and refused to send her out of state to college. I simply hung up the phone in the middle of her diatribe, took the phone off the hook until I could change my telephone number to a new unlisted one. Then I went to my computer and wrote an HTML document that told the world what I thought of both my mother and my sister, and posted it on my Web site. You can read it at:
http://www.katnmac.com/MamaDearest.htm
I am happy to report that in the years since I posted that document, I have finally stopped having nightmares about my mother, and am beginning to get on with my life. I have since moved to a new apartment, and my moth
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Check out my collection about anger (read especially 4 kinds of anger by the late Zen Master Seung Sahn):
http://taogirl.multiply.com/journal/item/20
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i got very angry when was drunk the other night, and lost control a bit as i wasnt expressing it so intensely in the day, i was a mess, and when i woke up i didnt even remember, i walked out into my romm and there was broken glass and broken mugs, my words, "what happened here" and in my bare feet i was shocked at how strong myb anger had been , something had been eating me up inside and i let it out iin this state, i must say i felt better afterwards but now feel sombre , sorrowful about what happened, ,
finding good ways to channel anger is so important, i was wound up, but suprised even my self this time, it was a way to get some tears out, to stand there crying as a release startin with being dissapointed with your self for not being able to sit down, and coast the pain,
if you feel to cry then its good to cry, there are better ways to get it out,
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, , , , , "non-cooperation with anything evil, is as much of a duty as Cooperation with what is Good & Equitable"
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/compassionate-responsibility
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Think about your anger and the source. Then react or not react with a plan. Think about and redirect your emotions based on logic, a constructive plan, and replace that wasted negative energy with a positive attitude or force. Some people must vent or talk to another when they are angry, others do not.
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Can Jesus help you use the power of discernment to understand what this article meant?
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Dear care2-ers, If you are FURIOUS at someone, put your hands together and compress them with ALL your strength, then when that EXHAUSTS you, grip your hands together tightly and try to pull them apart with all your strength to work out other muscles, and IMAGINE you are crushing or strangling or ripping the life out of the !@#$% that is making you so MAD. It will take the edge off your anger so that you can at least think rationally. We are ALL the children of Cain, and we must make some kind of PHYSICAL disapation of anger to expel it from our biosystems before prolonging harboring of anger gives you a heart attack. Also try doing as many push-ups as you can while imagining you are pounding the !@#$% into the ground with each push-up. Again, physical exertion and divertive imagination CAN defuse your dangerous anger BEFORE you confront the 'Tony Soprano' or evil boss or whatever !@#$% you have to deal with in life. Also, if you have a job interview and are nervous, try these prcedures as well, because then you will be too TIRED to be worried about biloxing the interview. Pinching your leg will also distract you from nervousness in job interviews as well.
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Without anger . . . would we still have slavery . . . would chain gangs still be the instrument of infrastructure maintenance . . . would the Vietnamese War still be waged . . . would the Hudson River be the cesspool it was before the ClearWater sailed . . . would women vote . . . would we protect endangered species?
I ask those questions because anger is not always destructive.
However, anger needs to be expressed, released. Sometimes, it can not be released constructively. One should avoid violence at all costs. But, retaining anger, turning the other cheek, keeping quiet, are not always the best option.
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