Welcoming Wrath

Hello, my friends! If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been reading my work for a while, you’ll know that my soul gives me unexpected assignments for this blog via the “random” stuff that happens in my life. This is the next edition of my chronicles of the soul’s journey.

I bet you never expected to read a post about wrath from a spiritual and holistic health perspective! I certainly never expected to write one. It’s been uncomfortable, to say the least, but easier to navigate and record than the post I wrote last week about happiness.

Are you ready to enter uncharted waters? Here be dragons, but I promise they aren’t as scary as you might think.

Wrath is here, visiting me. I’m welcoming it; just as a guest- not a resident.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt wrathful before. Surprisingly, it’s AMAZING! I feel energized and very alive.

Some caveats. I’m not storing it in my body or mind, flinging it about haphazardly or letting it leak out into my surroundings. That would be destructive. Nor am I judging myself, denying it or trying to paint a pretty face on it and declaring “good vibes only”.

Instead, I’m welcoming it and letting it flow. While I’m quite skilled at suppressing, avoiding and bypassing stuff I’d rather avoid, that type of behavior has never served me well.

I found a butterfly on the ground next to my car the day I began this journey. Butterflies are common this time of year, but never have I seen one stationary in the parking lot. I took it as a sign that I was undergoing a transformative process.

Shocked? I get it. New age spiritual teachings suggest that we should ignore the dark emotions and focus only on the love and light. I counter that if we do not address feelings such as anger, they do not magically disappear. We can pretend they have, but that requires a constant expenditure of energy.

We can eat them, drink them, smoke them, hide from them by overworking, overspending and incessant scrolling. That leads to depleted life-force and eventually poor health.

We can internalize them, holding them deep down in our secret caverns. This is the foundation for inflammation and all its accompanying maladies.

Instead of attacking ourselves or another, no matter how valid the reason may be, I’m proposing a very empowering approach.

FEEL.

But first we probably need to deal with some common obstacles.

First up, we need to diffuse any judgment we may carry about experiencing emotions considered undesirable. Btw, it’s the powers that be trying to keep us all compliant and yes-sir-right-away-sir that instilled the concept of unacceptable emotions. Many of us have received such conditioning. We’ve been programmed to feel ashamed and to hide our anger at our own expense, to be “nice” instead of real and to keep a leash on our feelings so other people don’t get uncomfortable or feel threatened.

Another barrier is the temptation to bypass the feelings we’d prefer not to have and jump right to forgiveness and “it’s all good” rhetoric. If the energies of anger are not metabolized, painting on a happy face does not change anything.

Finally, trying to shift BIG emotions by repeating affirmations is rarely effective in the long run. Yes, our thoughts and words are powerful. But they are the tip of the iceberg compared to the power of our feelings, which represent the 90% of the iceberg below the surface. I’m all for choosing intentional phrases to rewire patterns, but it will have a much greater chance for success if the emotional energy is transmuted simultaneously.

Holding rage, resentment, bitterness and wrath inside while repeating “peace” does not transform the frequency into one of peace. The anger festers on the inside, in your very cells, blocking energy pathways.

A note about the law of attraction, which has been portrayed as an admonishment against “negative” feelings. These teachings suggest that my giving voice to the wrath within will only serve to draw more wrath-inducing circumstances.

By my understanding, this is an incomplete explanation of universal law.  The point of attraction is the vibration, which is heavily influenced by emotions (the hidden part of the iceberg). It then attracts to you more of the same in attempt to heal. Planting flowers on a toxic waste dump does not a garden make. The vibration is still one of radioactive sludge.  

Wayne Dyer illustrated this brilliantly when he asked, what do you get when you squeeze an orange? Orange juice, right? Why? Because that’s what’s inside. If you have anger stored inside, that’s what’s going to explode all over the place when pressure is applied. And sooner or later, life will apply pressure.

Another key point is that the situation which activated my rage recently is relatively trivial. My response was ridiculously disproportionate- so much so that I immediately recognized that an old wound had been poked. I’m estimating that 70% of the wrath was stored during childhood when I was not allowed to express feelings, 28% from injustices witnessed and experienced in my adult life and only 2% from the actual event.

Which is why is crucial not to direct this wrath full force at the person who awakened it Remember the adage, don’t shoot the messenger? They were only exposing a volatile mess of anger stored in my basement. One day I might even feel grateful for the invitation to clean house. I’m not there yet, but I can definitely see that it’s a fantastic opportunity for healing.

What do I mean by healing? I could have also said integrating, digesting, metabolizing or processing. It involves doing an active practice to release the energy. Reiki works tremendously well, as does mantra, prayer and pranayama.

(Fun tip: If you are attuned to Reiki 2, you can imagine the Harmony symbol, or the “friendly dragon” as a student has dubbed it, munching up all that anger like PacMan.)

Movement is especially effective. It helps to create a container in which you won’t be disturbed and setting a timer so you don’t get lost in the shadows. 10 minutes with locked doors and plenty of space. May I suggest some Nordic folk/Viking music with heavy drums? Shake, bounce, jiggle, thrash. Let it MOVE through you. Here’s a link to my Pandora station if you want some support accessing your inner berserker.

My willingness to let the wrath flow through has opened up energetic pathways that had been previously clogged with suppressed emotions. And I’m pleased to say that after three days of rather intense awareness and practice and another few days of minimal effort, the wrath is completely dissipated. Here on the other side is an abundance of joy and vitality. Totally worth the discomfort!

It can be scary to let emotions out when they’ve been locked down for so long. In the past I’ve been afraid that they would take over and I’d lose myself, act out unpredictably or they’d possess me indefinitely. Using an intentional approach like I’ve described here has prevented that from happening. I did some very mindful work when I wanted to and returned to my normal activities when I needed to, until it was complete. Or at least, this layer was complete. There might be more in there, and when the time is right, no doubt I’ll get the memo.

If you have active addiction, mental illness or recent acute trauma, it’s a good idea to enlist the help of a professional so you have some support lined up if you need it. Over time you can learn to modulate the intensity of emotional energy so it doesn’t become overwhelming. If there’s a decades’ long backlog, the initial release can be quite strong. While emotions need not be feared, I think it’s wise to be prepared for some discomfort when beginning to address them.

If you have experience or resistance meeting the dark emotions, I’m all ears! What works for you? What holds you back? Can you imagine freeing up all that energy you’ve been using to stuff it down?

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