Anger is usually taken to be an unpleasant trait full of negative aspects. Expressing anger in our society is not considered polite because it makes others uncomfortable. The circumstances which created the anger may have made them uncomfortable as well. The person who gets angry is looked upon as someone without control. A lack of control is not respected. Anger is taboo for women. Why women should not be allowed anger is curious.
But anger has some beneficial qualities. There are plenty of charities, businesses and organizations which have been started because someone got angry about a situation which was unfair or unjust and wanted to take positive action. Anger usually brings with it a surge of energy. Putting that energy to a creative use has helped the person who got angry to feel useful and assisted the people who needed help. As a result of anger a positive move was made.
In a less dramatic way, using the heat and energy of anger gets us to do jobs around the house we have been putting off. Cleaning out cupboards, doing the weeding, mowing the lawn, washing windows all burn off the excess energy. Far more useful than plotting revenge on the person who made us angry because revenge has a way of bouncing back on us. If there is no other way to release the anger, a jog, a long walk, a swim all help to get rid of the excess adrenaline and benefit our body at the same time.
Sometimes it is right to be angry and we would be sadly lacking an important quality if we did not react with anger. When we see someone being treated with injustice and unfairness for instance. Being able to step in and say this is unfair and arbitrate in a balanced way is a positive use of anger. Reacting to a bully with controlled anger is not a bad thing. Bullies often have difficulty when anyone stands up to them. It is necessary to weigh the situation carefully though because bullies also can be physically dangerous to us.
Anger is there to protect us in some circumstances. If someone attacks us verbally we can sit passively and take it and burn inside, to our body’s detriment, or we can respond with reasoned argument, the fury giving us a more than usually fluent vocabulary and that does not mean using inappropriate language. Anger can sometimes protect us in such circumstances.
The trick with anger is to maintain control. Once you’ve lost it, you lose any chance of benefiting from it and in an argument you usually lose the argument too. The greater the anger, the greater the energy and the more you have to put into something useful, whether for yourself or others. While anger is often perceived as negative it can be the spring for some positive action.
