You might be conditioned to stuff down your anger, as it's an emotion that isn't appropriate to feel or express.

You might not even know how to feel anger, as you've always been one to stuff it down and instead feel sadness, anxiety, or frustration instead.

Or, maybe you feel a sense of rage and don't know what to do about it!

I firmly believe that any emotion that isn't fully acknowledged and felt seems to fester and spread in the body, causing other issues to start seeping out of us. When it comes to suppressed anger, I often see liver & gut symptoms as a result.

(Ever tried to eat while you're angry and noticed how uncomfortable that felt? It's as if the emotion of anger completely shuts down digestion, which in a way, it does, by blocking our body's secretion of digestive juices and the enzymes & bile acids needed to break down and absorb our food).

These days, I like to lean in to every emotion as if it's here to teach us something, as if it's a part of us waiting for acknowledgement ad validation in a way we previously did not receive from ourselves or others.

If we ask anger with respect: What are you trying to show me? What is it that you're trying to tell me? We often find anger bubbles up when we aren't being heard, if a boundary has been crossed, if something feels unjust, unfair, or cruel... it's our body's way of showing us that something needs attention and that we have the chance to deal with it gracefully and with a sense of mercy.

Here's to welcoming your anger, learning how it's here to help you, and letting it transform at whatever pace it chooses.