Imagine your present situation as an egg. Curiously observe what is hatching from inside the shell. What is the first emotion that rises up within you?
Are you tempted to project that emotion onto your situation, labeling it a good or bad egg? How difficult is it to simply let it remain Egg?
Through the years, Anger has been one of my companions. I once saw it as an antagonist, but now a trusted friend.
Since I typically do not come unhinged outwardly, Anger and I usually met privately. In conversations with Anger, I began to understand deep values that made me who I was. Anger stimulated me to live into my values with passion.
Sometimes Anger prompted me to articulate my values and other people came alongside me. At other times, Anger gave me courage to confront or let go.
Anger freed me, but not before opening me to another emotion I once labeled, bad, Sadness. In grieving losses, so sacred, Sadness gave me the will to accept what I could not change and move forward.
Sadness taught me that whereas change for one person is a growing experience, for another it is fear-filled. Furthermore, the right way is not the same for everyone. Making peace with that, simplified my decisions.
When we disallow ourselves and others to express bad emotions, we shut down the good ones, too. Do we really want to create zombie-like relationships or become groups of siloed individuals, pretending to be communities?
Soul nudges us toward interconnectedness and if we trust our emotions to teach us, we just might become more understanding people.
Today, when I hear hints of Anger in people’s cynical remarks, I wonder what threatened their values or how they might feel stuck. And when I sense someone’s depressed state, I encourage them to welcome Anger and say, “Enough!”
As we allow our emotions to work on us, we drop dualistic adjectives like good and bad. Then we see our situations as Eggs, just waiting to hatch.
Making Spirit Flesh*
Ask your emotion what it has to teach you.