Monday, Aug. 23, 2021
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Anger as soon as fed is dead
‘Tis starving makes it fat. — Emily Dickinson
Many addicts have a problem with anger. We may have been abused, neglected, or battered as children, and we may turn that abuse against ourselves or others in a vicious, repetitive cycle.
We need to talk about incidents that still torment us, and get angry at those who abused us. If we have been victimized, we are likely to go on being victims until we fight our way out of those early situations. Often, we can only do that by giving ourselves permission to vent anger as an affirmation of our self-worth, and not a contradiction of all we have been taught about being tolerant, forgiving, and peace-loving.
It is possible to hate the deed but to forgive the doer. We have the right to hate what happened to us, we have the right to be angry at people for their hurtful acts, while being ready to forgive them as people. If we keep our anger back, it will fester and come out in mean and petty ways. Let’s not starve our anger, or it will rob us of our dignity and serenity.
I do have things to be angry about, and it is healthy for me to get angry at people when they abuse and humiliate me.
Hazelden Foundation
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