Navigating the Labyrinths of Rage

I’m swimming in a vast sea of rage. This intense anger is not unexpected. It’s a wholly understandable response to the slings and arrows of an outrageously unfair world. It makes folks around me uncomfortable BUT in order to get past this fury I gotta feel it, let it rumble through my bones, my skin and muscles, my brain.

I can’t just magically let it go. What I CAN do though is make it work for me.

Anger can be a useful tool. Smartly exploited it can serve as fuel for making positive changes small and personal and otherwise. OR it can hamstring me. Awareness and focus are key but, when the Vexation Demons are riding me, those skills are in short supply. To make anger my bitch I gotta be calm. How fucking counter-intuitive is that, fer fuck’s sake?!

An example of what not to do:

Back in my old, big print shop days, a young man was hired who quickly earned the nickname Angry Jim. His indignation and ire, his vexation over simply everything, trivial and not, knew no bounds. His modus operandi seemed to be this – condescend, insult and alienate all, friend or foe. Co-workers with thicker skins than I were able to enjoy his few good points and then, when his storms of arrogant wrath surfaced they’d either mock him or walk away or both. Good for them! Still, Angry Jim’s inability to harness or even marginally tame his rage monster led to his unplanned exit from the hallowed halls of Print City.

What was AJ’s damage? Why was he a permanent member of the Rage Brigades? Beats me. He was a straight, white male (with a girlfriend too!), educated, not poor and had never been to war – he was playing on the lowest difficulty setting there is. So…//shrugs//...everyone's got a backstory and I don't know his.

Luckily he had the wherewithal to go back to school. AJ found a channel, an outlet for his constant choler – he became a lawyer. Great profession for rage, no? Good for him.
The best lesson for me to take from Angry Jim is this – I gotta recognize my own Angry Bee-ness and exploit the fuck out of it. Train and channel it. Find a path where it can flow effectively. Make that wild temper work for, not against me and my hopes and dreams. I gotta do it before I explode all over loved ones.

This is the lesson I’m concentrating on now. I need to craft my own road outta the rage maze. There ain’t no magic pill. While I am able to meditate, it’s not something I’ve a natural talent for (another good thing to grok). I want to distill, hone and aim my furies in a way that'll help me find some damn peace.

The best fighter is never angry.
~ Lao Tzu

Anybody can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way — that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.
~ Aristotle