Today's Thought - December

[bluidkiti]

December 7

Anger stirs and wakes in her; it opens its mouth, and like a hot-mouthed puppy, laps up the dredges of her shame.

~Toni Morrison

We may have been taught that anger is wrong, that maturity means learning to control it. Anger is a natural and powerful feeling. We can choose not to feed anger, perpetuate it, or let it become rage, but we need not fear or suppress it.

Clean, healthy anger won't annihilate us or others. It can help us to sense our limits. It can teach us what we feel passionate about. It can give us a new vision of ourselves, not as victims but as people with a sense of justice and self-respect.

If our voices have been unheard, our boundaries violated, or our identities wrongly judged, anger can dissolve old, inhibiting shame. Through it we can experience our strength and clarity. We can permit others their anger, too, by acknowledging that we hear them. We can experience the cleansing that anger initiates. Anger can be a step toward healing.

Today, I don't have to fear or fix emotions. I acknowledge my feelings and those of others.

Today's reading is from the book Glad Day