Anger is a very general word we use to describe a spectrum of feelings, emotions and experiences.
Anger is a healthy response that our system feels when it is expressing a need to be seen and heard.
When anger is healthy it can be expressed, processed and moved through our nervous system without getting activated in a stress response that is harmful to ourselves and others. With awareness and the light of consciousness we can learn to communicate our “no”, a boundary, a need, or an expectation in such a way that is beneficial to the greater good and elicits equanimity. This is not easy to do and it takes practice. It takes your practice. Meditation, breathwork, sound healing, journaling, dance are all accessible methods to channel, befriend and learn from anger.
Let’s refer to the etymology of the word anger to gain some insight and wisdom into the meaning behind the word.
From Middle English Anger and Old Norse, Angr-: Grief, pain, trouble, affliction, vexation, sorrow, troubled, wrath (Biblical).
Proto Germanic: Angazaz: Grief, Sorrow, narrow, painful.
Proto-Indo-European: Narrow, Tied-together
“From the sense of oppression, or injury, the expression was transferred to the feelings of resentment naturally aroused in the mind of the person aggrieved.”
-Wedgewood, A Dictionary of English Etymology, 1859
Also… the Swedish translation: Regret.
How different would it be to refer to our feelings in this way.
“My anger is actually affliction and/ or sorrow. My anger is clearly regret.”
In addition to the many variations of meaning of the word anger we have something else to consider. It could be one side of the spectrum, then it would be the zone of highest value and most return or gain from understanding. It is important to turn our focus to this side of the spectrum of anger to getting to the roots of the many layers of our inner anger. This is subconscious anger or inner anger or psychic anger. The anger that was formed before we were fully conscious. This anger is always with us and it takes something seemingly unrelated for it to bubble out. This is the anger we want to learn from like a teacher. It takes time and practice but we can find ways to connect with this anger.
