Listen:

Watch:

Read:

Twice in recents months I’ve come across bloggers who reject mindfulness, because they believe they sometimes need to be angry, anxious, or upset in order to make positive change. Sometimes, they say, anger is a justified emotion, one we need to motivate us.

I am not going to mention the bloggers by name, because my intention is not to call people out or pick a fight. My intention is to explain that these opinions are based on a misunderstanding of what “acceptance” means in the context of mindfulness practice.

And it’s an honest misunderstanding. The dictionary tells us to accept something is to consent to it, agree with it. In mindfulness practice, acceptance has a slightly different connotation. It means to allow, to be aware without judgement, to see things as they truly are. Once you have done that, you are in a better position to make decisions and your decision might include not agreeing, not consenting, or even taking action against.

I was chatting with a friend about these blogs, and he said, “I get what they’re saying. They think that sometimes things are so bad that you need to get angry about about, need to do something about them. You can’t just let them go.”

I asked, “Why do you need to be angry?”

He said, “Anger motivates you.”

I said, “I think anger just makes you feel self-righteous, justified in taking action. You don’t need anger to motivate you.”

Anger feels bad. Who wants to feel angry? Okay, I’ll admit it. I do like being angry sometimes but when I really think about it, I realize I sometimes cling to anger, because it makes me feel like I’m right and others are wrong. Although anger is sometimes justified, though, I don’t think it’s really motivational. It’s healthier to let go of anger and be motivated by concern or compassion.

Anger causes us to distance ourselves from problems and from others involved. When we take action out of anger, we’re likely to take action against other people instead of striving to understand them and include them in the solution. And, sometimes, anger just gets in the way of finding any solution at all.

Last April, one of my graduating students came to me in tears. She said she didn’t know what to do next, where to search for a job, what to do with her life. She felt so anxious and angry about the state of the environment that she thought nothing else in life even mattered. She felt hopeless and paralyzed. Her emotions were so overwhelming she was unable to take any action at all.

Climate change is a serious, urgent problem that requires action from each and every one of us - today. But, we can’t take action if we’re expending all our mental resources on feeling anxious about the outcome. And we can’t take action if we’re busy dwelling on how angry we are at the people who caused the problem or the people who stand in the way of a solution.

What we can do is accept the situation. That is, we can acknowledge that we’re in a seriously bad place and that very bad things will happen if we don’t make change now. We can acknowledge that this realization causes strong negative feelings, feelings that are justified but unhelpful. And, we can accept those feelings and let them go.

Then, we can take positive action. We can expend our energy on actions that will make a difference. And, we can talk to those standing in our way from a place of compassion and understanding. Confronting them with anger will not make them change their ways. Showing them understanding and finding ways to collaborate with them will be much more successful.