Love or Hate - It Is A Choice

Imagine that your house catches on fire and your loved ones are caught inside. Some escape but with injuries while others perish. You begin to experience feelings of anger, yes maybe even hatred, toward the raging fire. It is truly a terrible thing that it did – injuring and killing your loved ones. Your anger burns even hotter than the fire itself to where it consumes you and you become another of its victims. In your anger, you begin to look at the cause of the fire. Did someone set it on purpose? Ahh, somewhere else to project my anger and hatred and let the fire inside me burn even brighter. Perhaps it was a faulty wire. Now there is another rabbit hole to go down. The electrician? The contractor? You pour some hatred and anger towards them. Maybe it was an accident. Someone left a candle burning or something on the stove unattended. How dare they be so negligent? More anger toward the source.

What about the fire itself? Is it to blame for your loved one’s injuries or death? Are you pointing to it and hating it for what it did? It only did what it does, which is to burn. It has no feelings or agendas. It is the result of a chemical reaction that occurs rapidly such that light, heat and sound are released. Again, fire itself has no agenda. It is only doing what it does. Your hatred of it does not change it in any way. Your fear of it does not mean anything to it. It will not change the way it does what it does.

In this scenario, you are still left with your emotions of anger and hatred. Yes, it is a terrible situation no matter where the source is that created the disaster. Will your anger and hatred help heal your injured loved one? Will it bring back the one who perished? Will it stop people from being negligent or doing terrible things to one another?

What are you to do with those emotions? There is a righteous anger that you can acknowledge and let motivate you. Perhaps you are changed by the experience in such a way that you set out to make a difference in the world to bring awareness to situations such as this and how to avoid them. Or maybe you just want to keep the fire burning inside you because you feel justified in doing so. As it slowly consumes you from the inside, destroying your very joy as it does so, it is changing you in a different way.

You see, we all have choices in life. We can spend our time looking to blame, looking to focus on what is going on that others are doing as we judge, criticize and internalize. That scenario never turns out well, does it? It is in letting go that we find freedom to move forward in our lives. If we hate on everything that can potentially cause harm, we will certainly stay in a state of low vibration and wasted moments - time that could be used to create beauty in our world and in others.

In my teachings, I encourage people to love. My Master has taught me that love is the energy that produces healing, that effects change on the inside. When we change on the inside it will be seen on the outside. Holding on to bitterness and anger also shows on the outside. Our bodies start to break down under all that duress, that internal fire that is burning. Finding a way to heal the emotions is the best thing we can do when there is trauma that enters our life. Part of the grief process is forgiveness and acceptance. Perhaps if you are not quite ready to pour love into that which you are seeing as a horrible thing – fire, extreme wind, or a virus – start with forgiveness. We were taught this by Jesus himself as he was crucified. Even in his dying moments, he was a Great Teacher. His words of forgiveness from the cross was not only for him to speak and feel, but was showing us by example how to release any anger and hatred toward that which is destructive. It is only through that love and forgiveness that peace can be found.

As we wrap our arms around loved ones going through any of the fires of life, we are showing compassion and understanding of that internal process that is happening. The love we share with others who are hurting helps the healing to take place. When we go into their space of low vibration of hate and anger, we are unable to provide assistance with their healing as we are only keeping the fire burning. We all have choices in life. When we use the words “I can’t” we are making a choice. I choose love every time, no matter the situation. Only love and light is welcome in. That does not mean that there are no moments of anger but through awareness and acknowledgment of that emotion I can process it, love it and release it. I pray that you can as well. I love you.