Are you Angry?

Are you angry? By Damian Goldvarg

We are living in challenging times.

By now many of us have lost acquaintances, friends, or family members to COVID 19. Some people have lost their jobs, clients, financial stability, or the possibility to spend time with friends and love ones. Yesterday, my father told me that he was very tired of being alone at home and he’s starting to lose patience.?Are you losing patience too? And it is not only COVID 19 affecting our lives. In the US we are also experiencing political turmoil, some states are passing laws limiting voting opportunities to minorities. Democracy is being put to a test here in the US, as it is in many countries in the world. This makes me very angry.

By now, most people have also had access to video recordings showing police brutality. We have seen it with our own eyes. This abuse of power has existed forever but now it is in front of us; it can′t be denied any longer. It brings awareness of the inequities of the world and it is becoming harder and harder to look away in denial. In the US and other countries, we are facing institutionalized racism and our part in it.?The reality of it is painful and complex, and feeling shame is not helpful.

I recognize that as a white male I do have a great deal of privilege that I do not take for granted. Being also Jewish, Latino, and gay, I can also identify with being part of different minorities; I have had experiences of being discriminated against. The task before us is to be willing to embrace our anger in constructive ways, to work on ourselves to become aware of our biases and reactions, in order to contribute to a better world. The alternative is to shut down or build defensive walls to keep us in a resentful space.

Yes, we all have good reasons to be angry and sad. We have had many losses. Anger as an emotion is neither good nor bad. Anger can be a good source of inspiration to move forward and take action; however, anger narrows our focus and makes it hard to be curious and creative. It is one of the main challenges in front of us right now, to keep an open mind in the midst of intense, emotional conversations. we cannot lose compassion; we must

We cannot lose compassion; we need to listen from a place of genuine curiosity and caring and keep asking questions before judging or coming to conclusions.?We want to continually build our awareness of our own biases and be responsible for our reactions, being curious about them. We also want to keep a positive outlook,?leveraging the energetic positive emotions from our hearts.

Damian

[email protected] www.goldvargconsulting.com