Why Anger Feels Better Than Forgiveness

why anger feels better than forgiveness

Why anger feels better than forgiveness is simple: it is a powerful emotion that makes us feel as if we’re in control.

I can’t forgive him for what he did to me.

Can’t open myself up to being hurt again.

She was clearly wrong…no doubt about it.

I have said all of the above. Maybe so have you. To forgive someone I’m in a conflict with feels like being asked to write with my left hand (I’m right-handed). It feels totally unnatural and uncomfortable. Everything in me screams Nooooo. And every single time I’ve had to overcome my resistance and do it anyway.

Why does anger feel so much better than forgiveness?

1. Anger gives us a false sense of control. In many cases where we believe we’ve been wronged, we rarely hear the apology. Or we don’t hear the version we’d like. Nor is the offender held accountable for what they did to us. In the absence of these, our anger feels like we’re “punishing” the person who wronged us. They’re getting what they deserve. It promotes the illusion that we’re in control. That, somehow, we’re safe.

2. Anger helps us feel superior. In every conflict, someone has to be right in order to make “the other” wrong. Righteous indignation keeps us feeling that they “they wronged us.” When we stand on the perch of superiority we can make “the other” inferior. Again, it feeds our need for strength and control.

3. Anger keeps us from having to “own our stuff.” As a species, self-preservation is our strongest instinct. It follows that blame is so much easier than turning the inquiry inward. Asking the questions What could I have done differently here? What did I not see? is powerful but often scary. Looking at our own stuff means owning it and having to open to change. Ugh! That horrible six-letter word. CHANGE. Nobody I know runs toward it with open arms. It’s much easier to raise an arm and point a finger.

4. Anger keeps us pretending we’re safe. I’m never gonna let anyone hurt me again becomes the mantra we live by. We close off our hearts and dim our unique light. Because if we open up and show people who we really are, what we think and believe, we may be hurt again. But that’s such a limited way to live. It’s like walking without skin through a thickly wooded forest and trying to keep the branches from touching you. There’s a universal law that guides our lives. We grow through relationships. To grow, we must let others push our buttons. That’s how we know we have those buttons. Then we can get to know our buttons and learn to heal them. As you go through life, there will be others who hurt you, betray you, abandon you, and threaten your safety. The trick is YOU learning not to do that to YOU. Then you won’t have to walk around with your heart in a metal cage, the keys lost forever.

5. Anger strengthens and feeds our self-identity. When you were born, one of the first things your family did was gift you a pair of The Family Lenses. You were taught to look at the world through those lenses and only those lenses. Everything you believe in and know to be true about right and wrong, sinful and saintly, vanity and jealousy, being strong and being a wuss, came from those lenses. As you grew up and got out into the world, along came others with their own Family Lenses. Suddenly your ideas were being challenged and questioned by other lenses. In order to hold on to who you are you stood your ground, angry and justifying that you had the Right Lenses. Conflict! The harder we try to get others to see the world through our Family Lenses, the greater our frustration. What might happen if we said: “Hey, can I borrow your lenses for a moment and look through them? When you do, you go, “Wow! I never knew it could look like that! How curious…and interesting…and different!” We could let go of anger and just be in awe at how many billion Family Lenses there are to look from!

6. Anger has energy. It feels powerful, red, and wild. To me, anger is fire. Forgiveness feels more like water: free, flowing, includes and finds its way into everything. Anger feels powerful. Forgiveness feels limp and floaty. BUT nothing could be further from the truth. Anger stems from the energy of fear. Forgiveness embodies the energy of love.

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8 Comments

  1. Jill May on November 1, 2017 at 2:46 pm

    Very thought provoking, Uma. I especially connected with the comments in #3 about “owning our stuff”. That’s often a hard pill to swallow – that I might have some responsibility in being hurt by someone else. At the very least, I want to learn from each “wound” and be able to do better next time.
    I also like the analogy of putting on someone else’s Family Lenses. What a great concept! The world would be a much more peaceful place if we could all do that on a regular basis.
    Thank you for your insights!

    • Uma Girish on November 1, 2017 at 3:05 pm

      SO glad you enjoyed this post, Jill 🙂 I loved writing it and was particularly inspired to do so by the large number of folks who asked for it. I agree with you. It’s so much easier for us to judge and blame and make the other wrong than it is to take responsibility for what we could’ve done differently. The Family Lenses idea just dropped into my head…these are the ‘writing moments’ I love!

  2. Cathy Lucas on November 1, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    Excellent! It is amazing how un-forgiveness manifests itself in anger.
    #5 really resonate with me. I was raised with the misconception that forgiveness=reconciliation. I learned as an adult on my own healing journey that forgiveness is to release me, not my “offenders”. It was very freeing to realize Had no obligation to be in a relationship with those I forgave.

    • Uma Girish on November 1, 2017 at 3:44 pm

      Hi Cathy,

      So true! Forgiveness is about loving yourself. You do it for you. But I also share and teach that you cannot get to forgiveness without feeling the anger. So many people try to short-circuit the process because of this self-image need: “I am a spiritual being, so I must not hold anger and forgive all for all things.” That never works. Glad you liberated yourself with a more empowering insight.

  3. Lynn Barrette, LCSW on November 1, 2017 at 4:47 pm

    Beautiful encouragement and compassion for those working on forgiveness. Thank you!

    • Uma Girish on November 1, 2017 at 4:57 pm

      I’m so honored by your feedback, Lynn. Thank you for your kind words.

  4. MJ on November 30, 2021 at 5:47 pm

    I respectfully disagree.
    I have no judgment of anger. It is a natural guide and motivator. If channeled properly, it is an energy of renewal.

    I have positive experiences with not only honoring my anger when it appears, but channeling it to improve my own life.

    I cant relate to the demonization of it at all.
    But I do wish all could harness it for their own good, as nature intended it.

    • Uma Girish on November 30, 2021 at 7:32 pm

      Dear MJ,

      Thank you for sharing.

      It is not my intention to demonize anger. In fact, I teach that anger has a powerful message to share. That women who won’t let themselves be angry won’t let themselves own their desires.

      That said, every emotion has “wisdom” and “shadow” aspects. This blog post addresses the shadow aspects of anger.

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