In today’s world, there is so much chaos and madness, it sometimes feels impossible to find a glimpse of happiness. But what if I told you the way to happiness starts with getting angry? In the following paragraphs, I will be exploring how we can use anger to attain happiness. I will be doing so by explaining the trail of thought that makes one arrive at this conclusion in combination with using Mysha Cherry’s The Case for Rage.
The claim that one can find happiness through anger may seem illogical, but not when you take a step back and think about it. Anger and happiness are always at odds, many would even call them opposites. But are you truly happy if you have pent-up anger inside? Anger hasn’t been expressed properly but instead; it’s been suppressed for all these years. I think it’s safe to say that happiness is not achieved this way. When emotion is pushed down and not expressed it can cause a build-up which eventually leads to an explosion. Our bodies are not created to store emotions they are meant to express them. That is why I say can one truly be happy if they haven’t gone through the emotion of anger? Just to get out of your system, or to realize it so you can reset?
In Cherry’s book, she mentions many times a real-world truth that has been difficult to realize even for me. In her earlier chapters, she points out that since a young age most of us have been trained to not feel anger, or how to “deal with “anger. Even trained professionals like psychologists and psychiatrists don’t tell us how to use anger to our benefit, just how to get rid of it. In Chapter six she walks us through how to manage our anger. Do not kill it and push it away. Cherry says “As we have seen, some anger is already appropriate and directed toward constructive ends, so managing it means making sure that it fulfills its potential—not extinguishing its flames” This was a quote that spoke to me because the flames are what lead to happiness. The very first part of her plan is to express yourself, in any form. Second is the solidarity technique, which is icing out those who don’t support you and keeping those around who do. The third is goals and technique, this allows the person to have motivation. Lastly, we have the resistance technique. With these techniques, you can do so much.
The reason I find this chapter so useful is that once a person learns to use anger to their advantage, or even to use anger as their own secret weapon then they can and will accomplish anything. That’s how happiness is found through anger. Once you fully express all of your emotion happiness comes right along. My suggestion is that we try a new approach which would be finding our true happiness through managing and using our anger.
Shared by: Anonymous