how do we distinguish between the type of anger that stirs us to take right action
Something I find myself doing while reading NYTimes headlines on the toilet…
Reads headline -> feels heated/flippant/frustration rising -> Reads another headline -> inner flippancy rises -> *thinks “oh, wait, I’ve been here before” -> is this painful? — yes 🚩 -> am I going to use this energy to do something skillful that will help me or others know the truth of this moment? — no, 99% of the time no -> I’ve been down and settled in that truth before and I’m probably not going to call the kids in and explicate on the pain someone is causing themselves and others by yada-yada-yada while I’m sitting on the toilet or reading on the couch during a restful (for once!) Saturday morning. I’ll remember this feeling, and in the future I may write my senator, go with the kids to No Kings, and will certainly vote my conscious, but right now my job is to poop or help the kids eat and play and not continually pick at each other in that way which builds hard scales on our being, and that will only be hindered by my cow path full of war bushes and flippant vines. So no, I think I will stop reading headlines because to be here is good and enough and some may say the base of great and possibility.
So, are you going to use that anger for good in this moment? If you aren’t going to use it right now why are you holding that hot iron ingot in your hand, doesn’t it scald? Put it aside and use it to make something useful later.