As a climate advocate, activist, worrier, or whatever you consider yourself today, it’s easy to get angry at times. If you’re not angry at politicians not doing enough, you find yourself angry with neighbors who don’t recycle properly or ignorant strangers that happily throw trash on the ground and let their cars idle.
Or is that just me?
Didn’t think so.
It’s OK to feel angry from time to time. The world isn’t right in so many different ways and being angry simply means that we recognize that and want change. If we’re never angry, how could we ever work for anything better?
However, anger as an emotion can easily consume you and lead to both unfortunate and dangerous situations. So learning how to properly embody your anger is essential!
Most anger is caused by either a misunderstanding or the fact that we are on different wavelengths, operating from completely different levels of consciousness. I’m a firm believer that people aren’t bad. The only reason some of us make stupid decisions or cause others harm is that they haven’t awakened to a better level of consciousness. Yet.
I remember reading once that everyone is always doing their best given the place they’re at right now. It rang so true to me. It made sense!
Everyone is always doing their best given the place they’re at right now.
However, just because everyone is doing their best doesn’t mean it’s not frustrating that they’re not doing better. Like — can’t they wake up and start caring about the world already?
That is where the anger grows. As it should, because anger is an extremely powerful emotion if used the right way!
“When you learn to sit with your anger and feel it… anger will quickly evolve into passion, decisiveness, and successful leadership.”
In this week’s episode on the Hey Change Podcast, mental health expert and professional speaker Mike Veny talks to us about how to use our anger for good. It’s a juicy episode with lots of wisdom, including a few really good tips that we can take with us on our journey as grounded, inspired, and action-driven climate activists
In this episode:
Passion vs gifts
How to lead a meaningful life
Breaking stigma and creating new norms
How to embody your anger and let it empower you
How to think about our work in climate change to stay inspired and motivated
The Climate Optimist taking stage!
In other news, I am honored and excited to be speaking at Columbia University next week as part of their Climate School programming! Together with Abigail Loughlin, a brilliant mind and a former intern at The Climate Optimist, we will talk to the students about how to shift the narrative on climate change and start acting from a place of courage and excitement, not fear!
If you’d like to work with me on upcoming events, programming, or other workshops, please contact me.