“Anger stirs and wakes in her; it opens its mouth, and like a hot-mouthed puppy, laps up the dredges of her shame. Anger is better. There is a sense of being in anger. A reality and presence. An awareness of worth.”

-- Toni Morrison

Hi everyone!

I’ve been feeling pressured and overwhelmed lately. I react unconsciously to both of these states by shutting down. So my energy, enthusiasm and motivation were draining away along with my sense of focus and purpose.

Then a little incident with John triggered anger in me. Anger is a little red flag that tells me to stop and pay attention. I turned to journaling, and as I pounded my thoughts and feelings onto my keyboard, I flashed on a number of realizations:
- I wasn’t angry at John – I was angry at myself for not clearly identifying and expressing my desires in a number of different areas.
- My anger helped me see what I really wanted – thank you!
- And my anger was charged with energy – precious energy that really wanted me to do something!

The challenge with anger, of course, is to do something constructive, not harmful, with this emotional energy. But with these new insights, the anger transformed into what felt like ‘determined’ energy. Really, it was energy of empowerment.

What is empowerment? It’s having the focus, the knowledge, the energy and the confidence to go for what we want in life.

I am NOT a victim of external forces, though for a while there, I was acting like one. I don’t have to accept someone else’s version of how things should be done. I can set my own priorities. I can choose how I play the game of life.

And if I start losing my power through overwhelm, well darn right – it’s worth getting angry about!

~ Patrice

“Anger as soon as fed’ is dead—
’Tis starving makes it fat.”

-- Emily Dickinson