This may be a little 'out there' for some, but i'm going to write honestly about my perspective on the London riots. At the moment i feel London calling out for love and support to counter the fear spreading from there. We can all help London by looking at ourselves.
The UK is a place of repressed emotions. It is not considered okay to share our true fears, anger, weaknesses etc. We can moan about our boss or complain about our boy/girlfriend, but this hardly goes to the depth of our painful feelings. As a society we're encouraged to 'stay chipper', which means suppressing our deeper fears from our family, friends and even ourselves.
It's these repressed feelings of anger, frustration, criticism, weakness and so on, which i believe are now pouring out of the rioters in London.
Seeing 'London' inside each of us...
This past week i've been surprised by how much anger has been boiling up in me. "Most unusual" thought i & pushed it aside. But it continued to surface, together with feelings of fear, sadness & weakness. Usually i look at all the negative thoughts & emotions inside and gratefully process them (using EFT, tarot, and other tricks). So, why this time was my tendency to push it away?
I started to see a pattern between the 'rioting' angry part of me & the 'judgemental' condemning part. i saw in myself what is happening in London. The world is a mirror, reflecting back to us what we are. Even though i'm in India, i am still connected to the goings on in the UK. So, i can take responsibility (without guilt!) for the part i've played in the UK being the way it currently is: which i believe, in this case, means acknowledging my repressed anger, fear, self-judgement etc. Saying 'hello' to my shadow-side!
Once we begin to accept the reality that these feelings are inside us, only then can we begin to process them, to let them go. It's time to stop ignoring these parts of us. To stop putting on our British 'polite smiles', 'keeping up appearances' and 'stiff upper-lips'. To stop pretending to others and ourselves that everything is tickety-boo, when really we feel like we're falling apart inside. It's time to stop judging the rioters as separate and distant. To realise instead that we are all connected to our society and culture.
Know that it's okay to feel angry, weak, sad, afraid etc. These are a normal part of the human experience! It's even okay that we've been suppressing these emotions for many years. i am grateful to the riots for showing me what i have been repressing. Melting and dealing with these feelings is a lot healthier than having them erupt and boil over. We can alchemise all emotions and feelings into positive, healthy ones. But first we must accept that they are there, THEN we can begin to love and care for this neglected part of us.
So, what to do???
First, let's get real with ourselves. When you feel afraid...acknowledge that feeling. "i'm feeling afraid about..." is a better inner-monologue than "oh shut up", "it's not okay to be afraid", "i don't get scared" etc. One way accepts and one suppresses. (To be clear, i'm not talking about fear of the riots, rather whatever form fear, anger etc is arising in your life.)
Once you've accepted your fear there are many ways to process it. My favourite is EFT. I've written guidelines on how to practice on yourself - email me for the document. You could also try having a conversation with your fear (or whichever negative emotion you're experiencing), to understand it better and see where its roots are.
But most importantly allow the emotion to be there, even though it doesn't feel so pleasant, even though it goes against your natural conditioning. You'll get cosmic bonus points (and feel better) if you can manage the next step...love yourself for feeling afraid/angry/weak etc. i ain't going to tell you this is easy - we're brought up to believe we should only love what is good. But i tell you the truth....we got to ***LOVE IT ALL***! Love the so-called 'good' and so-called 'bad' inside each of us.
Perhaps you can also bring in some forgiveness. Forgive yourself for feeling this way. Don't get dragged into the story, drama or the thoughts about the situation, which was only the catalyst for the emotion. Stay on the feeling level - it's more significant: the story exists solely to allow you to alchemise these feelings.
Now is the time to release the control the egoic-mind has over our lives. To return to, & choose instead, the wisdom of our hearts.
I love each of you and i also love all the anger, fear, doubt, weakness and pain which you try to hide away! It's all there inside each of us and it's time to get a bit more honest about it. When you start looking at it, you'll realise it's not as big and scary as it seems trapped inside. Let it out and love yourself!
Show your vulnerability to others & be gentle with yourself. You'll be amazed at the outcome!
Remember always your heart!
Thank you for reading and listening to this perspective (remember that it takes courage to share this!)
In pure love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Notes...
1. If you're interested in reading more about dealing with emotions and your thoughts, i highly recommend "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle
2. There's a beautiful, simple healing practice called ho'oponopono which we can practice... taking responsibility for my part in the situation...Then repeating the 4 ho'oponopono phrases:
i'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you, i love you.
more details here: http://www.hooponoponohelp.com/
3. Feel free to pass this message on to anyone you feel will benefit from reading it.
