Rage

Like a lot of people,  I find that I am cycling through fits of rage and depression and then coping by ignoring. I find I have to engage in quite a bit of self care.

Part of the problem is that we are all being subjected to media designed to enrage us - behaviorally speaking. The other part is that because people are enraged - they are engaging in incredibly stupid really harmful really incredibly stupid crappy things that make us upset.

Like - how exactly are we supposed to respond to toddlers being taken from their parents and put in baby jails? How are we supposed to respond to kids being shot in schools?

Rage seems like a pretty rational response at times.  Being angry and enraged is the right response to things that are happening. That is my emotional and moral sense kicking in to tell me - something absolutely needs to change.

There are 2 things I try to think of to help me think more rationally.

1) is the thing I'm enraged about even true?  Because spending my time being enraged about fake news - isn't productive. And we are ALL being subjected to fake news stories. So - spending some time critically examine the stories to make sure that I don't get enraged over something that isn't even true - is very very helpful.  Especially if it turns out the story was fake.

2) If the thing is true - like babies in jail and kids being shot in school - and I am right to be enraged, then the question is: how?  How to change what is happening so that we don't have this problem.  Being enraged doesn't help me think strategically or take action.

Our emotions tell us to pay attention.  Our rational minds tell us how to solve the problem. We need both. 

The problem I have been having is my feelings of rage are so strong I can't seem to function and I normally function really well. So - what I do is I focus on 1 problem. The world is overwhelming. So what can I work on and have a positive impact on. It doesn't mean I'm not outraged about the things that I should be outraged about. It means that I am aware of my limitations and I am focusing my work. Trusting that others are doing the same.

I have written about this before: http://humanisthappiness.blogspot.com/2011/01/pick-one.html

Have Courage

As I was preparing to write this post - I realized that the word courage includes the word - rage. Rage  put into action - is courage?  I don't know what the origin of the term is - but I like the idea that courage is rage at injustice encouraging us to take action to fix the problem.


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