Recently, I picked up Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. I can't recommend it enough. This book is self-billed as "a course in discovering and recovering your creative self." Of course, there are those who would argue that I don't need something like this, but I have found it quite useful.
There are many wise things shared in its pages. Something of special note is Cameron's perspective on anger. She writes,
Anger is meant to be listened to. Anger is a voice, a shout, a plea, a demand. Anger is meant to be respected. Why? Because anger is a map. Anger shows us what our boundaries are. Anger shows us where we want to go. It lets us see where we've been and lets us know when we haven't liked it. Anger points the way, not just the finger. In the recovery of a blocked artist, anger is a sign of health.
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. (pp. 61-62)
I like her understanding of anger as a tool for healthy growth. I like the idea that anger points not only what we "don't" like, but it also reveals that for which we long and yet feel denied. Too often we think of acting as a result of anger as a "bad" thing. It's nice to think of it as a possible springboard into something good.
Certainly something to think about.
0 comments:
Post a Comment