you do not rise with anger - you rise when you move past it.

anger, perhaps not the most pleasant feeling when something gets triggered within us. It sounds so harsh, but we shouldn't forget that anger is a feeling, just like joy, sadness, surprise, and so on. It's a mechanism that tells us something. And it's okay, it's okay to be angry.

But what do we do with that anger?

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I was so angry during COVID. I was angry that people’s right to freedom was being restricted. I was angry that people were giving away their freedom willingly. I was angry at how those who went against the norm were ridiculed. I was angry because I was deeply hurt by the betrayal people inflicted on themselves. I was angry that the trust in one's own ability to analyze a situation seemed to vanish for so many.

And even though I still, to some extent, feel a lot around the whole uproar that came with COVID, I’ve also learned how easily anger can take over in a negative way.

Here’s the hard truth: people won’t always meet you in your truth. No matter how much you spoon-feed them with information, trying to show that something is a certain way, they will only absorb what they are capable of at that specific moment.

We all carry different traumas and life experiences. And so, we alone are responsible for starting the shadow work within ourselves.

And let me be clear again: anger is okay. But be aware of when it starts to polarize your mind. Because when we begin to act from a place of divide and conquer, we’ve lost our roots. And I say that from experience.

I can look back on that time and reflect on myself, on how I reacted, which was often highly triggered. (I also want to add here that my standpoint remains the same as it was then.) But I no longer react to those triggers. Probably because I’ve reached some level of acceptance that we are all on our own journey, both inward and outward.

So why am I sharing this? Because there’s a point to it.

I see the same kind of anger in people today. (And it's not to compare situations, because the challenges humanity is facing right now are heavy in a total different way)

And I’m not saying that the anger over the tragedies humanity is currently going through, on so many levels, isn’t justified. But I also know that if we let that anger take over, and start dividing ourselves into "good" vs "evil", then we have already lost as a collective.

We are all children of this Earth. So aim your anger where it truly belongs.

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A man once told me: Love your neighbor, even if he hates you. Eventually, he will love you back. That stuck with me.

Only love can unite and heal.