There are so many perspectives on ‘anger’, and i know i’ve had many different opinions/feelings towards it through my life. Yet as i’ve grown, i am also falling in love with my anger.

I am not a particularly angry person in general. laid back, have perspective, rarely hold grudges. I can be pretty accepting of people’s behaviour in general.

However. There is something to be said for having some healthy anger.

I’ve been noticing that it points you in the right direction, at times. that anger can be an amazing clarifier. If you feel lost or stuck in any area of your life, get in touch with your rage, what pisses you off, and you’ll find some clarity there!

Anger is also an amazing sign that something or someone is flagging up a boundary or self-integrity violation. For me, anger flares up when i feel someone is not honouring or respecting my independence, my right to have a differing opinion, or literally not respecting my physical space. That doesn’t mean i then go apeshit – it can be as simple as ending the conversation, saying no, calmly telling the other person that they’re making me feel uncomfortable, or walking away.

Honouring your anger means standing up for yourself. If you can’t take a stand for yourself, then you are not ‘for’ yourself, and that is not very loving. Anger can be a sign that you deserve much better, and that if you stay in this angry-making situation you are doing yourself a disservice.

Recently i watched the latest Batman movie. Without giving too much away, there’s a part in the film where the only way Batman/Bruce Wayne can motivate himself enough to save his life, as well as the lives of others, is to get angry. By tapping into his anger, this also spurred him on enough to move past his fear and ultimately be successful. He was so angered by injustice that he didn’t care if there was a chance he might die on his crusade. Without the anger he was in a malaise, and nothing was ‘worth’ taking action for – without his anger, Batman was in a slump.

Most of us aren’t caped crusaders, but i think we can learn something from this. How often do we talk ourselves out of our righteous anger? Maybe you’re in a relationship with an utter dingbat that pisses you off, yet you swallow your anger and put up with their crap, disempowering yourself and letting a cad get away with less-than behaviour. What would happen if you tapped into that anger? Might it propel you out of the relationship?

I remember once seeing my mother get so angry at my dad, after years of a bad relationship, that she stormed home one day and pulled her wedding ring off. Whatever doubts, fears, justifications for staying might have been swirling around her head, pure energy surging through her body prompted her to say enough is enough. That was the beginning of her shifting out of that destructive relationship.

That’s what can be so great about anger – not the ‘that guy cut me up on the road’ anger or the ‘my friend spilled red wine on my white rug’ anger. But the anger that clearly cuts through all your personal bullshit that keeps you disempowered, keeps you in a dead relationship, keeps you in a job you hate, or that keeps you quiet.

Anger can make you more visible. You will be making waves in the world – whether that’s through marching in the streets for a cause, standing up to your parents, saying ‘no’ to someone who expects you to be compliant. so you have to be kinda brave to be angry.

If you are in any kind of malaise at the moment – if you feel emotionally dead, or psychologically stuck – tap into your anger. What fires you up? What makes you want to bark like a snarly dog? Sometimes feeling angry can tap you back into your true self again – it awakens vibrant life energy in you and forces you to take a stand.

Have a great week. Be healthily angry

S xo