“Aggression is part of each one of us, it plays a part in our daily life, it is allowed and it even is a strength.”
'Aggression makes the world go round!' If you type this into Google, you will land on 'passion' after a few clicks. Aggression is eros, drive for life, and it has been that way for a long time. Knights fought each other for the hand of a damsel. Maidens fought one another for the king's hand. Knights went to war to expand the territory and give the population more chances of survival. Brought back to the here and now, we find the simple, daily drive to live in the form of file devourers, negotiation pit bulls, male putters, wonderfully aggressive football players ...
Drive to survive, drive to win, drive to assert: drives that have to maintain or strengthen something or someone. Frustration or threat creates aggression. People who feel threatened show aggression. The threat can come out of many directions. It may be caused externally, or internally by thoughts or musings. This aggressive drive allows people to do things they would never do in a state of complete tranquility. The footballer does not kick the shins of his dinner companions to his heart's content in his spare time.
'Anger is an energy' John Lydon sang at PIL. Is anger aggression? Is aggression an energy? Aggression is a channeling of energy, in the direction of self-preservation. Aggression is a solution strategy in the eyes of the one who uses it. Why? The language of solutions is different from the language of problems. If we see the act of aggression as communication, then the cry of aggression sounds different from the language of the causing problems. Aggression is an essentially positive inner force, aimed at balance and progress.
Paradoxically, aggression often leads to change, and this is a reinforcer of aggression. So it implicitly encourages to apply more of it. The act of aggression makes everything stand still. There is room to take time again and this also seems to validate the aggression.
Emancipation of the power in aggression, that is what we stand for. Rather than taunting and punishing the potentially harmful consequences of violent behavior, we better embrace and cherish this power as one of our most precious possessions. After all, in addition to the one-sided approach from the point of view of damage, there is also another important vital side to aggression that is currently not being seen. We are proud to use this power in a positive way. When 'aggression' sounds very negative to many people, it is our mission to make people think about passion, enthusiasm, fuel, energy, life drive, desire, going for important issues, hunger, strength, growth, grinta, tenacity, competence, fire.
We tackle aggression as a problem and at the same time use its power, just like in tango you use the energy of your dance partner to perform a beautiful movement. We harness the fuel of anger to get things done, changed, and improved. In this way we ensure that aggression does not have to result in destructive violence, but rather becomes a magical force that creates beauty and connection.
We turn aggression into a constructive force, as an alternative to the traditional approach to violence (punishment, repression, detention or forensic treatment). We do this in solution-focused counseling and training, where we learn to recognize, recognize, control, channel and use our own aggression for positive goals. You can read all about it in our book 'Positive Aggressive'. Do you rather listen than read? You can listen to us here.
And you? What and how do you proudly fight (for)?
