Get Angry, But Then Use It!

“Usually when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.” ~ James Russell Lowell

It took me forever today to find a quote that didn’t tell me anger was bad, corrosive, something to be let go of. I actually do agree with that, but then there’s righteous anger. I think a lot of Americans are feeling that right now.  In my life, this type of anger, anger at an injustice, has always been a a catalyst for action.

Sadly, anger was my driving engine for a long time. Everything I did came from a place of anger for a slew of reasons psychologists just loved to examine. But then one therapist, an alternate therapy type of person, surprise surprise, said, “just let go of it,” I was afraid what would take its place, terrified, but with her help, I let go.

Wow. Love filled it’s place. That was cool, let me tell you. (I turn to banality when things are ineffable for me.)

So now I try very hard to operate from a place of love. But that same love gets me angry. When I see injustice, boom. When I see my family, friends, students getting hurt, boom.

But love has taught me that anger without action, rational, thought out action, is a waste of energy and a waste of time.

So if something in life is making you angry, use it! Change. Change is the one thing we are all capable of. If we can’t change a situation, which is rare, we can change our reaction to it.

Advertisement