Protective Anger

How do you typically deal with the emotion of anger? It's a challenge for most people. In this society, culture has said that it's more okay for males to exhibit anger than for females. Do you become frightened by your anger and try to repress it? Do you let it hang out all over everyone and everything or blame others for it? Do you allow it to drive your behaviors or do you simply recognize what the emotion is trying to tell you (e.g., that your boundaries are being actually or potentially invaded) and decide whether you just need to file away the information and do things differently next time or take some action right now? Therapist Joann Peterson put it this way: “Anger is the energy Mother Nature gives us as little kids to stand forward on our behalf and say I matter. The different between the healthy energy of anger and the hurtful energy of emotional and physical violence is that anger respects boundaries. Standing forward on your own behalf does not invade anyone else’s boundaries.”