Anger is almost a useless emotion. Beyond the initial motivating factor it has very little to offer you and it will take from you more than you realize. It is a difficult emotion to reign in and manage, which is why you have to be extra careful should you encounter it, because it can be consuming.

Is your bark worse than your bite?

That is not to say you do not have a right or a need to be angry, you simply have to decide how much power you are going to give it. Really, that’s all our emotions are trying to do. Win our favour in a bizarre power struggle that we referee day in and day out; why? Because we as human beings have this intensely innate need to feel. And, we require this on a level different than that of the physical plain. Our emotions tap in to our inner being and that is why we must cautiously entertain this wrestling match between them.

We absolutely need this vast expanse that is our emotional plain. No emotion is any less important than another; they are simply different and require a different kind of nurturing. Anger sometimes runs rampant here, across the plain, fitting in to any old spot it can find. It slips in when frustration has run its course, when hurt runs too deep, when we feel like we have done wrong or had wrong done to us, and when there are too many emotions present at once, too many to sift through, anger will surface and preside over all. This is where the danger lies. If we are not careful, anger will consume the emotional soup we have made until there is nothing but an empty pot. And then? Then it will trick you into thinking you need that pot full and that it can be filled with any old thing, like anger.

Anger is often misplaced because of this. We employ it where it has no business even being. Like all emotions, anger grows, and grows wildly if left unattended becoming invasive and deadly to all that surrounds it. Anger threatens to wipe out all other emotions. Anger can even seemingly erase the past; good deeds and memories long forgotten are replaced with anger, mistrust and even hatred. It disables you preventing you from seeing things clearly. It robs you of the ability to forgive because it stops you from seeing the need to broach that which you may not want to but need to. That kind of ignorance will eventually penetrate your own growth, stunting you.

Sometimes our anger is born out of something we have done. Something we cannot forgive ourselves for. Sometimes we stay angry because we do not think we will be able to find the forgiveness we seek – whether that is from ourselves or others.