I want to walk through life instead of being dragged through it.
Alanis MorissetteRead
When someone says that I'm angry it's actually a compliment. I have not always been direct with my anger in my relationships, which is part of why I'd write about it in my songs because I had such fear around expressing anger as a woman.
Interpretation
Anger can be a valid expression of feelings, especially when fear of expressing it restricts authenticity in relationships.
In this quote, Alanis Morissette reflects on the complexity of expressing anger, particularly as a woman. She recognizes that being labeled as 'angry' can actually highlight her emotional depth and authenticity, revealing a struggle between societal expectations and personal expression. Writing about her anger serves as both a form of therapy and a means to confront her fears about that expression in her relationships.
In practice
In a workshop on emotional expression, this quote can be used to inspire participants to embrace their feelings.
I want to walk through life instead of being dragged through it.
Music helps you find the truths you must bring into the rest of your life.
My own approach has always been to push intense emotions down and attempt to deal with them later. When I was younger, I was terrified to express anger because it would often kick-start a horrible reaction in the men in my life.
To me the biggest irony of this lifetime that I'm living is that for someone who thrives in the public eye in the creative ways that I do, I actually don't enjoy being in the public eye.
I'll be writing songs till I die. There's just no question.
My greatest achievement is being able to write records that are real snapshots of what's going on in my life. I won't repeat myself for the sake of commerce, or to please other people.
We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.
Studies show that if people think that they are treated fairly by the police, that matters almost more than what the result is. If you get stopped for a traffic stop and feel that you are treated courteously and fairly, you are much more likely to accept the fact that you got a speeding ticket.
But on the way home tonight, you wish you'd picked him up, held him a bit. Just held him, very close to your heart, his cheek by the hollow of your shoulder, full of sleep. As it it were you who could, somehow, save him. For the moment not caring who you're supposed to be registered as. For the moment, anyway, no longer who the Caesars say you are.
I wish every American had an opportunity to sit down, to go to a base, to meet with families, to meet with service members, to sit down with our veterans - because we would think differently about our challenges as individuals.
Empathy fuels connection; sympathy drives disconnection.
Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and love, and most of the time they're right - a chilling thought when you sit down to dinner with a family of five. All those potential killers passing their plates.
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