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Rage.
How to control the uncontrollable.
You’d think by now we’d have evolved past rage.
When I was 8, so much as missing a ball with a swing of my wiffle ball bat was enough to send me over the edge and into a fit of rage.
This rage felt good at the moment — throwing my bat and screaming words I’d only heard from my parents and Linkin Park songs — but afterward, I felt guilty, embarrassed, and I still wasn’t any better at wiffle ball.
On the surface, it appears that rage serves us very little. Sure, there’s is a time where getting angry is important for survival (like when there’s a threat to your life or safety), but rage? Rage serves no one except the primitive urges of the rager.
Rage is defined as “violent, uncontrollable anger”. When the hell would “uncontrollable anger” serve anyone?
Rage in the Brain
Your emotions are a reflection of your brain’s current perception of the threat around you.
If someone kicks your puppy (I know, I feel awful for even writing that), your brain is flown into a state of reactive aggression. Reactive aggression is the opposite of passive aggression. This reactive aggression is mediated by your amygdala, hypothalamus, and periaqueductal gray.
