Hello and welcome to this quick practice of accepting the feelings of anger that you are having right now.
Many of us grew up being taught that it was wrong,
Bad,
And even harmful to feel angry.
Or we witnessed anger being used to control and harm others,
And we feared what would happen if we let anger show itself within us.
We were encouraged to push down,
Ignore,
Or stop feelings of anger when it arose within us,
And now we feel unequipped to handle these strong feelings when they come.
We might even feel shame for simply having them at all.
Hear me now.
It is not your fault if you struggle with moving through anger in healthy and productive ways.
You are not broken,
And you are not a bad parent.
You simply were not taught.
No matter what you were taught,
What you witnessed,
Or what you may have experienced around anger,
Anger in itself was never the problem.
How it manifested,
Perhaps.
How it came out sideways or exploded after years of holding it in,
Likely.
But the anger itself was simply your body telling you that something was not right.
And when expressed in healthy ways,
Anger can be a powerful tool for change.
Now with more wisdom and more grace,
Let's practice working with anger in productive ways.
Let's practice accepting the feelings of anger now.
First,
Take a big breath in,
And as you exhale,
Scan down your body,
Paying close attention to where your anger is living in your body right now.
Do you notice any tightness,
Tingling,
Numbness,
Or pain?
Put your hand in that spot now,
And feel the weight of your hand,
The warmth of your own presence.
Now breathe in and out,
And as you do,
Lovingly rub the area where your anger lives,
Not trying to stop it or make it go away,
Just noticing it there,
Giving it space to be exactly where it is right now.
As you continue to breathe in and out,
Can you practice speaking to and about your anger now with love and compassion?
Repeat after me,
Silently or out loud.
I know I am feeling angry right now,
And that is okay.
I am practicing accepting and allowing my anger to just be right now.
It is not bad,
And I am not wrong for feeling angry right now.
My anger can be a positive and energizing force to highlight areas in my life that I want to change.
Sometimes I see injustice or feel myself or someone else treated unfairly.
I am capable of handling my anger in a healthy and productive way that will not harm myself or others.
Now one more big breath in and out.
Good work.
Remember anger is not a harmful emotion if we learn to accept and allow it and find healthy ways to express it.
We cannot teach our kids to move through their anger if we are not practicing the skill ourselves.
As we learn to allow our anger space to be and lovingly move through it when we are ready,
We teach our children to do exactly the same.
