Anger...Digging a Little Deeper

Let's continue the theme of anger. Besides hatred (another in-your-face form) there are other common and more subtle forms of negativity: impatience, irritation, nervousness and being "fed up" - background unhappinesses. Eckart Tolle in A New Earth, could be onto something, "Whenever you are in a negative state, there is something in you that wants the negativity, that perceives it as pleasurable, or that believes it will get you what you want."

That begs the personal development action of "noticing." We can choose to be aware of the negativity in us or brewing in us. Awareness is an important part of our personal development. It takes an intentional alertness and a willingness to truly notice what is going on inside of us and around us. It is at those critical moments that we need not see this as failure, but as real victory. We have noticed what limits us and holds us back. This is the first step toward living free.

What to do with anger?

In a recent manager's meeting we were talking about the role of anger in our personal and professional lives. Actually, it began with talking about frustration, which I've been taught as being attached to the core emotion of anger. That raised questions like: Is it okay to be angry? What do I do with my anger? Is anger always bad? Someone had done some personal development exercises about anger/frustration and shared the following quote about using them to one's advantage:

"Use anger/frustration to your advantage by channeling it to motivate you and focus even more on the task at hand. Too many people turn anger inwards and destroy themselves rather than taking advantage of it."