Transforming Anger, Giving Anger to God
“[Destructive] anger crucifies Christ. Destructive anger is our sickness. Our medicine is God’s taking our anger. If we do not give it to God, we are not healed of it. We are in bondage to our anger and are not free until our resentment is buried in God. Yes, as shocking as it sounds, we worship God by expressing our honest anger at God.”—C. FitzSimons Allison, Guilt, Anger, and God (Seabury, 1972).
Anger is one of our highest-energy sources. For generations, women were taught they could not express it. They kept it in, and this repression sometimes did terrible things to their bodies and souls, as well as to anyone who came into contact with them. Men were similarly harmed when they were unable to cry, leaving their grief unexpressed.
The key, of course, is channeling this energy into constructive use, just as plants transform energy from sunlight, along with carbon dioxide, our waste product, and water, into sugar for plant food. Through this process, they release oxygen, the essential element for our survival.
The plant world is our role model. We are to photosynthesize our anger, our “carbon dioxide,” which, if retained in our bodies, can be deadly.
It is amazing how simply going outside and being near plants as our mentors is one of the best ways to initiate transformation. Waiting is part of the process. When we are first responders to a disaster or other cataclysmic event, the energy scatters through the atmosphere, bumping into the closest survivors—often those we love most. Very few know how to be well-trained first responders to anger.
Other transformative processes for anger include walking, music, and writing. I have had so many angry moments that have been transformed by my harp strings.
Daily, sometimes hourly or even more often, prayer can be a life-altering spiritual practice. We can offer our anger to God for transformation by using a constant prayer mantra, such as the Jesus Prayer. In the past, when I was seeking a surgical remedy, this prayer was often my personal offering to God.
Thich Nhat Hanh suggests meditations that can transform anger. Simply pausing before acting on anger can be a game changer, preventing us from saying or doing things we will regret. Breathing exercises can be an immediate way to quiet anger until it is manageable.
We begin to see signs of healing from the damage anger can inflict on our souls when we express compassion for others, often those who were injured alongside us. We also change by being part of a community where we can safely share our difficulties and learn from role models who have undergone transformation.
We rise out of bed and are called to action that will lead to greater compassion. In my experience, one such icon was the Women’s March on January 21, 2017, after the Inauguration.
The true test of the transformation comes when we begin to feel even the slightest compassion for those who injured us and others, the ones who provoked the anger. We acknowledge that this happened because they also suffered and never knew the transformative process whose byproduct is lifesaving love.
Transformation of anger is also known as Resurrection.
Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com.