01/27/2023
Anger is Clarifying Before it Becomes Volatile.
Anger used to terrify me. My body would automatically freeze and/or collapse when anyone around me expressed anger — this wonderful built-in survival system of my own body. All of our bodies have this nervous-system mechanism, there’s no shame in it.
For a significant portion of my life, I strongly identified as not* being an angry person.
(*to be discerned from identifying as a happy person. In this context, I moreso identified as a rejected part than a welcomed part.)
I saw how anger hurt people so easily and often with such cutting swiftness.
That hurt, once it occurs, can never be taken back.
It’s like trust — once we break it, it takes a lot to rebuild it — much more effort than if we were to simply maintain it well.
However, unbeknownst to my awareness, I wasn’t ‘not an angry person’…
I was just casting this incredibly important emotion into the shadows — into my unconscious awareness.
Anger is a fiercely, ferociously loving friend.
And when she is not listened to, she will come out with a vengeance.
I remember when I first really ‘touched’ my anger — It was terrifying — evenmoreso than feeling anyone else’s anger — because it was within my own self. I could not run or hide from it, as it was coming out of my own shadow.
We can’t run from our shadows forever ;) Remember trying to do this as a child when you first became aware of your shadow? Oh my! How fun & playful… then terrifying, then exhausting, then surrender. At least that’s how it went for me!
Read the full article, link in bio. Xo
**ra
