by Rosina Pzena, M.A.
With the upcoming release of the new Star Wars film “Rogue One” this Friday, and as a huge sci-fi nerd, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Star Wars universe this week. Through all the movies, characters have to face the most despicable evil in the universe, powerful enough to build ships that destroy entire planets with one shot. How do the Rebels keep fighting such overwhelming power without giving up?
Some of what drives them might be healthy anger. It’s important to understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy emotions, as we see them in REBT. Healthy negative emotions are usually not too distressing to us and they help us to be productive in some way. On the other hand, unhealthy negative emotions are unhelpful, distressing, and often keep us from reaching our goals.
Even though all of us probably want to have no negative emotion and live a blissfully happy life, we cannot fully escape negative emotions- nor should we want to. Healthy negative emotions are crucial to the human experience, they help us identify things we want to change, and motivate us. Just as the rebels in Star Wars bring their fight to the Empire, we can use healthy anger to fight the despicable evils and injustices present in our world today.
