Being angry at all the injustices in the world is not the most effective way to change them. I am reminding myself this again for the umpteenth time! My dragon self wants to breathe flames on all people who use their power with impunity and abuse others in all kinds of horrific ways. My girl self just cries for the sadness that so many people undergo. But all this, as noble as it is in intention, makes me completely useless in my own life! I'm behind on applications, art projects and exercise and this is not making me happy. I'm reminding myself that carrying other people's pain is like martyrdom, and martyrdom needs to be discontinued as a way to change the world forever. My mom taught me how to do this well. She was the best martyr in the world and died of illness and a broken heart. I have been conditioned through my entire childhood and teenage life that this was the way to be. As an adult I must choose differently. I must choose the way of happiness, and I believe that this is the only way to help our world heal. Happy people make other people happy!
Yesterday, as I was walking and going over this in my mind I felt the impulse to "just stop". Stop what? Stop fighting in your mind. Let it all go. Build something beautiful.
gabrielasblog.com 
You are seriously AWESOME Gabriela! Thank you for this post and the very important message you bring – choose happiness and peace!
Wishing you a wonderful Friday! 🙂
Allison
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Thank you so much Allison! This is a really hard choice because it is so tempting to jump in and fight! I need to keep reminding myself that that is not the way to happiness, but will just keep us in the same fighting cycle year in and year out. Who wants that?!
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Righteous anger does not per se lead to martyrdom or unhappiness. It can also be transformative and creative.
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Agreed! But I can take it to extremes and fume for days and days!
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I love this post. I work in the area of human rights and am constantly seeing things that just tear me apart inside. I recently spoke to a friend of mine who has worked in human rights for years about how he deals with this. He said that on the bus home each day, he just stops. He stops and considers what he has done to make the world a better place that day, and lets go of those things that are beyond his control. We can be sad and angry about the myriad of injustices that we see around us, but we might as well expend our energy on those things that we have the power to change for the better.
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Indeed. Thank you for your comment! Makes me happy to know that there are people out there who feel connected to what I write.
Sending you hugs & blessings!
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