Thread Drift

[rebeccaC]

NY….i feel the same way.....and I’ve never found anger to take me anywhere positive. We are fortunate to have lots of non-profits and state/city programs here doing great work especially in the more disadvantaged areas. Alex and I have started to give even more time and money to the causes we have embraced. That helps us deal in a positive way with our concerns and replaces anger with the feelings of helping others, seeing the courage in people struggling, seeing the wholeness of others and the unique story each person has…..each with their own potential and dreams. For both of us it’s just about a compassionate way of living.

Thanks for the link….I like the callitout idea….when we turn away from someone being assailed because of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation we become part of a larger moral problem.

[Crankin]

I do that stuff everyday, Rebecca. I *work* for a non profit, it's a choice, when my peers from grad school have all started private practices. I just can't do it, as it eliminates a wide diversity in the people you serve.
I don't see why saying one is angry is a bad thing. I do all of the stuff you note, but I am still angry at what happened. Maybe upset is a better word? I am not clinically angry, there's no homicidal ideation going on in my mind, but I just fear what could happen. It would be easy for me to live in a bubble, considering where I live, but at the least it's made me even more outspoken than usual!
I have never been a quiet or outwardly calm person. Some of it's cultural, and some of it is my personality. I am very calm in emergency situations and in my work, but generally I subscribe to the "call it out" all of the time. This is how change happens.

[ny biker]

I don't think it's bad to be angry or acknowledge that you are. I just try not to dwell on it. Because I do tend to dwell on it and it causes too many problems, internally for my health and externally in my dealings with others. I am both angry and terrified of what will happen in the next few years. But as I said, I need to find a way to function, and I don't see myself being useful to anyone if I can't push the anger and fear aside.

[Crankin]

Yes, it's not in my consciousness every minute of the day. It was, the first few days after the election.

[Pax]

For me, anger transforms to action, sadness and fear does the opposite, I end up staying in the house and being a lump. So, for now, I'm pleased to be royally pissed off.

[Crankin]

Yes, Pax, I often tell clients that a little anger can lead to motivation. It's when the anger grows out of proportion to the original issue or becomes permanently entrenched, that it starts to do damage to one's body. I never get the kind of sad you are describing, but I understand it. From where I sit, a lot of prolonged anger leads to sadness and isolation. When I said I was angry, I didn't think some would take it to mean something other than I meant. Sometimes, you need to be angry, to see a solution or another path. Or motivated. It's all what you do with it. But to deny it, even in a cursory way is not part of my DNA. Maybe I am overreacting, so I am going to close my thoughts on this now!

[shootingstar]

I interpret Crankin's concerns as just that and nothing else.

Problem with such prominent political leader like Trump about to head one of the world's most powerful country (China is becoming powerful too, in many different ways), is that it simply emboldens others world-wide what they might have been afraid to say....that immigrants who aren't Christian-hetero, don't look like themselves, etc. are lesser / the less desirable "other" in the order of society.

Here's a female Canadian political delegate for the Conservative party: http://www.macleans.ca/politics/otta...trump-victory/
In the province of Alberta where I live, unemployment has climbed to 9% highest since 1994, due to faltering oil and gas economy which is our province is (wrongfully) too dependent. Now, there's sentiment that is getting all muddled with more anti-immigrant, and simply angry, etc.