Is Anger a Call to Action?

“I have learnt….to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world.”  – Mahatma Gandhi

Anger is an interesting thing in our society, we often want to get as far away from it as possible.  Is it because of the volatility of anger?  Is it because the potency of anger touches all those who come in contact with it?  Or do we flee from it because we are afraid it is going to call us to action…to change?

For me, anger typically appears as a slight rise in my heart beat, a brief constricting of my breathing alongside a tightening of my stomach.  As this feeling emerges, I almost immediately think, “Uh, oh.”  As it is a call to action, a call to speak up, a call to lean into that conversation, however uncomfortable that may be.  For me, my anger means that it is time to step up, the question is always will I be able to channel my anger appropriately.  With a certain level of emotionality, the message may come flying out of my mouth sounding both accusatory and bitter.  Or in other cases, my voice may quiver and falter as I venture to speak my truth.  Or grace happens, and the message, tone and all, are eloquent, expressed and heard in perfect unison.  Either way, quiver or not, my truth must be spoken, that or the anger gets turned inward.  My anger is not just okay, its healthy.

In a world where 90% of people are conflict averse, we flee from anger, ours and that of others.  We fail to see it as an opportunity – for growth, for compassion, for transformation.  As Martha Beck put it, “Anger appears when something you need is missing from your life or something you can’t tolerate is present. So ask yourself, What do I need that I’m not getting? or What am I experiencing that feels unbearable?”

If we think about every great social movement in our history, we can likely point to a groundswell of anger that moved the world to change.  Of course, to use our anger productively we must first learn to channel it appropriately.  How do you channel your anger appropriately?