Anger is not wrong. I know this statement seems shocking and challenges the wildly popular "Positive Thinking" movement,which encourages us to "be full of positive energy" and "let go of our anger." Hower, the truth is that anger is just an emotion, and emotions are neither right nor wrong.We do not consciously choose them. We do, on the other hand, choose how we express our emotions and there are definitely right and wrong means of expression.

    The reason we're often urged to "keep a lid on" our anger is that few people ever learn proper and positive ways to express anger. Instead, we are taught that "anger is wrong" and "you should keep your anger inside". But these messages don't change the fact that ,for most of us, anger exists.

    Many popular "Positive Thinking" programmes assume that success comes from "controlling our emotions" and that this can be done by simply repeating positive statements. Interetingly,these positive slogans often include a lot of negativity. "only losers complain! I am a winner!"is one popular saying. The belief that those who disagree with us are losers is actually quite negative and is often used as an excuse for rude language and personal attacks.

    When it comes to dealing with negative situations in our daily lives, the ability to reasonably express anger or disagreement is an important skill. But we muse use balanced and non-violent methods to express our dissatisfaction. Frustration at unfair policies or treatment can certainly cause anger, but our anger can never be an excuse for abusing family members,damaging schools, attacking doctors or most seriously, engaging in terrorism.

    Instead of pretending that anger doesn't exist, we should stat teaching appropriate means of dealing with anger. When we experience angry feelings in ourselves or others, what we should "let go of" is the silly idea that we can remove anger with just a few sweet words. Instead, we should find reasonable solutions to the causes of those angry feelings. We need to accept anger as a natural emotion but stop using it as an excuse for violent and destructive behaviour. Anger isn't wrong, but failure to deal with it appropriately is.