Can compassion peacefully co-exist with anger? Truth is, anger can be our friend. It can help us know what we stand for and why. It can help us see wrongs and move us to right them. It can help us know when our selves and our souls have been trampled. But without compassion, anger can become a wild beast - aggressive, unkind, hard-hearted, mean, cruel, vindictive, sarcastic, and none of that serves us well.
Compassion is an equal, perhaps even stronger, force of nature. It can soften the sharp edges and soothe the painful jabs of anger, but is neither meek nor mild. Compassion can be fierce and tough, the steel magnolia of human emotions, without slipping over into pity or superiority or maliciousness.
Anger smacks us with opportunities to choose how we will address life’s unpleasant situations. Compassion shows us how to tenderly embrace what anger is showing us without succumbing to its nasty side. It allows us to accept the gifts anger brings us without being destroyed by them, the lion lying down with the lamb to create a peaceable kingdom.
Anne Wade is Teacher, Writer, Mentor, and Coach for courageous women in midlife and beyond who want to disrupt their own status quo and design life on their own terms, even in turbulent times. She has developed the Becoming Found process of going within to find and address the inner barriers we have all inadvertently built up against love, happiness, health, wealth and any other desires of our hearts. Teaching women to unapologetically shine like a superstar and live their legacy is Anne’s mission.
You can follow her on her Facebook page “Anne Wade – Becoming found” or join her “Becoming Found” Facebook group.