The Invitation of Anger: What It Might Be Trying To Show You
- Sommer Chetty
- May 1
- 2 min read
I think anger is one of those emotions a lot of us don’t really know what to do with.
We either avoid it…or we’ve seen it expressed in ways that make us not want anything to do with it.
So we skip over it.
Or we replace it with something else.
For me, that’s usually sadness.
This is how anger can look…
when it’s been pushed down or comes out all at once.
What I’ve noticed
The other day I felt anger come up.
And almost immediately, I shifted into sadness.
And the sadness felt heavy.
Kind of like defeat.
But this time I caught it.
And I went back to the anger.
And when I did… something changed.
There was strength there.
And that feeling of powerlessness wasn’t there anymore.
It didn’t feel calm… but it also didn’t feel out of control.
Just… different.
Why we avoid feeling anger
I think a lot of us learned that anger isn’t safe.
Maybe we saw it expressed in ways that were:
hurtful
explosive
unpredictable
So we made it mean something about the emotion itself.
Not just the behavior.
But what if anger isn’t the problem?
What if anger is actually pointing to something?
A need.
A boundary.
Something that matters to us.
When we skip over it, we don’t just avoid the feeling…
we miss the information.
Anger and energy
There’s also energy in anger.
It can move us to:
say something
change something
acknowledge something
But when we suppress it, we don’t get access to that.
We go straight to resignation.
A different way to look at it
Instead of asking:
“How do I get rid of this?”
Maybe we ask:
“What is this showing me?”
And just see what comes up.
A small practice
Next time you're feeling anger:
Notice it
Stay with it for a moment
Get curious about what’s underneath it
You don’t have to act on it right away.
You don’t have to fix it.
Just… don’t skip over it.
One more thing
If you’ve ever felt like anger separates you from God…
I’m not sure that’s true.
It might actually be the opposite.
Being honest about what you feel—even anger—might be what allows real connection.
If you want to reflect on it:
What might my anger be trying to show me?
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