Dear TSW:

Like other animals, we are born to feel fear, joy, sadness, hurt and anger. Each emotion has a function promoting our physical survival by motivating an animal to perform an action for its survival: joy when eating motivates an animal to eat all it can when food is available; fear motivates an animal to run away from danger; hurt and sadness motivate an animal to rest following an injury or an intense struggle and gather its energy for later. Anger motivates an animal to fight a predator or an animal trespassing its territory. Without anger, an animal threatened, will not fight, and therefore will not have a chance to survive.

Anger is not a bad feeling that needs to be eliminated.  When you feel anger, it means that a wrong has been done to you or a danger  of such still exists. If you ignore this anger, trying to get rid of it, it will persist until you address that wrong. Lots of people don’t address that wrong and express that anger in abusive ways toward themselves and others and yet, the anger does not quiet down, because the real wrong was not addressed and resolved.

What was the real wrong that was done to you, or still being done to you?

anita