The anger dragon

I've spent some time over the last few months allowing myself to explore and feel the fire-y feelings of anger--the kind of anger where your hands are literally shaking and you can't help but scream (my choice is in the car) with rage. What's this anger about? It's about all the injustices of the world, people hurting and oppressing people, violence, animal abuse, the beast that feeds the illusory separation of our brothers and sisters, blind patriarchy, and the fact that there are people in the world starving and without clean water to drink.  It's also about 34 years of not expressing my anger, because in my unconscious mind, anger was not an acceptable emotion to feel. It makes others uncomfortable, so the only safe thing to do is suppress and bury it.  Through finally allowing myself the freedom to recognize, feel, and consciously express this anger within me, the "anger dragon" has become more of a friend than an enemy. Anger-- just like any feeling, just wants to be seen and felt, and at times, even held with compassion. What I have learned, and hope to continue to learn, is that we can use anger to bring more justice, peace, and compassion into the world. Yes, feel the anger with all the world's injustices! This is not the time to turn a blind eye to all the darkness and destruction that pervades us-- but how can we be productive with our expenditure of this anger energy? We can either react to this anger and feed the beast by starving it and projecting more anger and hatred onto it, or we can give it clean water to drink and healthy food to eat through being present with it and allowing it to flow through us rather than circle around us, or even stay stuck and buried within us. It's safe to say that it's transformed and consciously used anger that has been a big piece in helping me bring the vision for STARANA into being. My prayer and intent is to strive to use this anger as fuel to my fire to take action when and where appropriate: to bring in justice and peace where there is injustice and fear *(Inspired from the Prayer of St. Francis).  Holding strong and faithful to what is good, and that which is grounded in love. 

-Audah