Anger

This morning I was reading a book called "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.  Cameron honors the fact that everyone has an artist within; it’s just a matter of unlocking the creative flow.  Her profound insights are one of the many things that inspire me to keep up this blog.  Today I was re-reading a section on anger.  I thought to myself that everyone needs to hear what she has to say.  I feel that I will create a mess if I try to rephrase her words, so here it is, straight from the book:
"Anger is fuel.  We feel it and we want to do something...But we are nice people, and what we do with our anger is stuff it, deny it, bury it, block it, hide it, lie about it, medicate it, muffle it, ignore it.  We do everything but listen to it."
She then says, "Anger is meant to be acted upon.  It is not meant to be acted out.  Anger points the direction.  We are meant to use anger as fuel to take the actions we need to move where our anger points us.  With a little thought, we can usually translate the message that our anger is sending us."
Then Cameron talks about how feeling anger, usually makes us feel even more angry that we feel angry.  She says this is because anger marks the death of an old part of us.  "It tells us we are being reborn, and birthing hurts.  The hurt makes us angry.  Anger is the firestorm that signals the death of our old life.  Anger is the fuel that propels us into our new one.  Anger is a tool, not a master."
"Anger is our friend...a very, very loyal friend.  It always tells us when we have been betrayed.  It will always tell us when we have betrayed ourselves.  It will always tell us that it is time to act in our own best interests.  Anger is not the action itself.  It is action's invitation.”