« Right Brain Workouts

Anger

By Peter Lloyd

This is the sixth in a series of Right Brain Workouts devoted to the Seven Creative Juices. Using the Seven Deadly Sins as my starting point, I've audaciously re-positioned them as the natural forces that drive creativity, innovation, invention, the arts, and human progress. Today we meet Anger.

Whataya mean constructive criticism! No creative director, design team leader, invention expert, or innovation guru is ever gonna tell you what you can or cannot do as long as I'm one of your Creative Juices.

I'm anger--the voice inside your head that tells you in no uncertain terms how you feel, what you like, and what you hate. And I'm here to be heard! Until you express me, the way you feel, I'm gonna make you stew.

Just try to keep me bottled up inside and you're headed for ulcer city. I'll eat your insides and pump up the pressure in your skull, until you take decisive action.

I won't settle for whining either. You can grouse all day to your friends and family, but until you confront the powers that be and get something done, I'm gonna make you sweat till your hands tremble and knees shake.

I'm the Creative Juice that turns complaints into solutions. Any wimp can complain, but vent me in the direction of correction and we’ll get things get done.

Likewise, if nobody complains, nothing gets done, nothing improves. No innovation. No creativity.

Just the thought of my power prevents half the injustice in the world. I'm the reason you don't chew out the cop who's giving you a ticket. Then if the cop was wrong and you were in the right, I'm the one who makes you take your ticket to the judge.

When I see that everybody's content, I call it what it is--apathy. And I nip it in the bud. When I hear "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," I break it, so we have to fix it. Too much harmony leads to groupthink, one of the biggest creativity killers there is.

Complainers make you uncomfortable, don't they? Because you know where they're coming from. You've been there. Haven't you? Yeah, I know you. I saw you and your finger when that clown cut you off. Why did you get upset? Because I had my say. That's why.

Who stimulates more problem solving than any of the Creative Juices? Who gets more oil than the squeaky wheel? Who do you think is doing all that squeaking? And if squeaking doesn't work, who raises his voice? And if that doesn't work, who do you see in the marches and the picket lines? And if that doesn't work, who's standing in the doorways, blocking the hallways, hunger striking, striking fear, if that's what needs to be struck...?

That's right. It's me. I'm Anger, and I don't take anything sitting down. Think about it. Would there be any justice without me? Face it, indignation, whether it's righteous or selfish, gets the job done.

Don't stand there and take it. Rise up with me.

Read all Seven Creative Juices: Pride, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Envy, Anger, and Sloth.

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