Manipulating Anger. Options

Ok well to start off i was just wondering if there is any way to take anger and use it in a positive way? Because i have been really angry lately but i am trying to supress it. If there is any positive ways to use this anger instead of letting it build up to the point were i am getting headaches. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/angry_pissed_off_emoticon.gif)

anger is rather good for "getting things done". It can be a very robust force which you can aim at difficult tasks, the sort of tasks which don't require a clever solution, but just lots and lots of fortitude, that's the sort of task or obstacle which anger will be most effective on, especially ideal for very physical tasks. Wielding anger in this way naturally dissipates it in a constructive and healthy way.

Really though, what is there to become angry about? When you experience anger, most of the time it is in response to a situation which isn't *really* worth getting angry about.

In situations where you are really thoroughly justified in being angry however, anger is actually a less than ideal state of mind. If you are being significantly wronged, and have every good reason to be angry, that sort of situation is actually better dealt with by keeping your cool. I'm not saying one should turn the other cheek, or invite abuse through weakness. I am no pacifist. I'm just saying that if you really want to be "effectual" in dealing with confrontation, you'll want to have ALL of your faculties available to you. And anger (much like fear) can tend to disable your other mental faculties if you don't hold it in check. Myself I do this by sort of 'going cold', becoming essentially emotionless, and operating within the reptilian portion of the brain. The trigger for this is just a subjective decision that another being is an 'acceptable target', or put another way, someone I have identified as an individual for whom I am decisively willing to suspend all compassion.

Most often, in actual practice, the individual or being in question is what we'd call a 'bully' in one form or another. And after spending much of my life in a more meek mode of being, I've all too much experience with bullying. I have learned that the very best thing for bullies is an immediate show of force, even before their behavior becomes overt enough to warrant it. The process of the bully is to test the waters incrementally and see how far they can take their art, see who is gentle or polite enough to overpower. If you show that you are about as meek as a wolverine, right up front before anyone gets settled into any patterns of behavior which may be hard to break later, like 'letting things slide' letting the bully get away with some trivial early misbehavior, then it's pretty well 'nipped in the bud'.

Anyway, I think anger is a natural part of the psyche. I don't shun it. But like I said earlier, there's very little worth actually getting angry about in life. Maybe I'm getting old, but for the most part I'm pretty dispassionate about a lot of things which I see others getting quite upset about. I only really allow myself to get riled up in response to people who show the signs of a very negative pattern of behavior. And even then, sometimes, force isn't ideal. Sometimes just getting inside their head and establishing a rapport would suffice to defuse animosities. It really depends on whether the person you're dealing with is merely agitated (for any of a hundred reasons), or whether they are genuinely malicious in their thought processes. Not a whole lot of people are genuinely malicious in their thought processes.

I think the only time you'd really want to channel real true anger, as in 'rage', would be if you found yourself in a situation where you truly wished to destroy someone or something. And even then you'd want to dually wield fury and cunning, one in each hand so to speak, to give your fury a great deal more potency. It would be an interesting debate, whether there is ever a time when utterly destroying another being is justified... of course "justification" is an entirely subjective matter. I'd think that most would say that there is never such a justification. Myself? well, that'd be one of a few items which makes me better identify with LHP than RHP.

oh, also, there are entities which feed on nearly every emotional 'flavor', so that's always something to be conscious of when experiencing strong emotions of any kind.

** Edit: it's worth pointing out, that you can simply 'turn off' an emotion just by blocking all energy radiating outwards from the self. Emotion burns through energy like fire, and it can't function without being able to vent the 'exhaust' energy. If you block all outbound energy, completely and firmly, your emotions will simply flatline. It's interesting because you don't even have to be thinking about your emotions when you do it. it works regardless. I originally discovered it as a side effect rather than an actual intent. By using this, you can, at any time, 'cool your heels' in mere moments. It's also useful for other forms of emotional state, for example, you can use it to simply 'switch off' stage fright. or to reel your mind in from some slippery-slope emotion like jealousy. generally I only use this to curb emotions which I have a reason to curb. But if you get good at it, it gives you complete control. And it's got nothing to do with denial or repression, it works on the mechanical energetic functionality of emotion at it's most basic level.

With practice, you can get to where you are able to dis-empower any emotional reflex you have, without even having to think about it. This can be very useful to counteracting unwanted emotional baggage & unwanted emotional responses/reflexes. But it's sort of taking the programming of your own mind into your own hands. Some would argue that the person who does brain surgery on themself has an idiot for a surgeon. I'm of a somewhat more adventurous attitude myself.

also, you can channel *any* type of emotional energy to use in magick. the more potent the more effective it will be in your magick.

This post has been edited by Kath: Dec 17 2009, 04:29 AM