March was the first month of the Roman calendar and is subsequently named after the roman god of war, Mars. Mars was seen as the paternal protector, conveying war as an act of protection to his warriors. Thus it s not too surprising that some associate it with March madness. March has its roots in the lineage of war, with its increase in heat and red streak of anger.
Anger is in essence a protective emotion. It gets a bad reputation and we are told to “manage” and “control” anger. Yet this focus misses the complexity of anger. Anger is a dominant emotion. It dominates the other emotions on the playground. It arises when one feels threatened, scared, or otherwise vulnerable. If we dominate anger we often dominate the vulnerability that is already under the anger but if we voice the vulnerability under the anger we bring the other emotions to the playground. The protective force of anger becomes neutralized when we let vulnerability be bold.
Anger has its own neurological imprint- the orbitofrontal cortex; accompanying a rise in heart rate, the release of adrenaline, and activation in the pituitary gland. In short, the sympathetic nervous system prepares us to react- to move and to protect.
What would happen if we noticed the desire to protect and voiced it? What would happen if we expressed our sense of being threatened and scared? If we reached for connection with our fears and angers instead of retracting or oppressing?
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