Goddess Durga – ‘soft enough to be your mother but fierce enough to run the universe’
Please bear with me, i have a dark theme going on here. Two months ago I posted about Loss here. These are things and emotions that I think are so powerful that we rarely speak of them.
Can we talk about Anger?
I wish I was better at anger. I seem to let it build until its spills out in the wrong context.
I always thought the stereotype about redheads having explosive tempers was wrong. My brother (not a redhead) seemed more prone to outbursts of anger (punching doors for example) than I was when we were growing up. Now I realize I was just as angry sometimes but could not conceive of expressing it like that. I was a girl and anger was more of an inside job. So I mostly internalized my anger. Anger is an emotion that is hard to get right. Directed against oppression it is righteous and necessary. Directed against ourselves or others in our care it is corrosive and unproductive. As women, we are not really supposed to get angry. Women are never more feared than when we are angry. And holding in your anger never works.
In Ayurveda I am what is referred to as Pitta Dosha. (more about Ayurveda here)
It is the element of fire. Its not an excuse, just the way I’m drawn ;).
Oh and I’m menopausal. I don’t have the hormones of the acquiescent mom I was in my thirties. Or the people pleaser I tried to be in my forties.
Now I’m just trying to be Durga – fierce in the face of injustice but soft in the face of love.
Here is a recent piece in the LA Times I liked called “Angry while female”.
As mentioned in the article above, Beyonce is perfecting female anger on her latest project ” Lemonade.”
“Ok Ladies now lets get in Formation“
ps – I recently bought Beyonce’s new visual album and although I have never been a fan before – it is knocking me off my feet. It is a thematic narrative of betrayal and the film it comes with (when you buy it on iTunes for $17.99) features the convention breaking music, the stunning visuals, and the incredible poetry of Warsan Shire.