15 responses so far ↓

• 1 connie Sep 3, 2005

  Bless you in your anger and thank you for your honesty. You have expressed what I’ve been feeling and it helps to know that others are feeing the same pains and angers and fears and to HOPE that with all that is good and decent in us we WILL do every thing we can to help and heal and love.

• 2 terri Sep 3, 2005

  Thank you so much for your honesty and humanness!!!! I’m going through a devastating breakup which is just in a long list of losses and a very challenging life to say the least. It seems like I hear so much about everything being as it should be or everyone is doing the best that they can; you can’t wallow or get addicted to your grief, etc. Excuse me, but I think we need to have enough compassion for ourselves and others to allow them to be angry or full of grief, hopelessness, pain. It seems like a lot of the spiritual movement doesn’t take into account that we need to feel the emotions and work through them to the philosophical point. I am so sorry for your pain and it doesn’t seem fair at all. I do find what you said uplifting becuz there are so many others out there that feel the same way and you gave all of us permission to feel what we feel. I wish you and your husband the best. Thank you for sharing your honesty with us.

• 3 Madde Sep 3, 2005

  When they told me I had cancer, I was pretty darn mad. When I was doing chemo my niece gave me a magnet that said “when you’re going through hell, keep going.” That was the truest statement to me. It’s now five years, and so far so good. Just keep moving forward, and look forward to some good things in your future. But be sure to enjoy NOW.

  I do believe what goes around comes around, and all those politicians who were too busy trying to take care of BIG business and not the little people will be in for a BIG surprise in the next election. Keep believing.

• 4 Kimberly Sep 3, 2005

  Dear Jennifer,

  I think it takes a spiritual person to not only embrace their anger but to share it and not hide it away. Anger is part of being human. You have every reason to be angry. I respect people who are honest and real. I also recognize you are committed to your spriritual growth. One must embrace the darkness before they can embrace the light. Life has a way of showing us spiritual creatures that. I admire your courage and honesty and wish you and your family every good thing life has to offer. Namaste, Kimberly

• 5 Mona Sep 5, 2005

  ANGER is POWER.

  Women (and men) have the ability to harness their power to create synergy (instead of self-destruction).

  Acknowledge anger, search it for meaning. Fear anger, touch it, smack it, push it away and then embrace it with open arms, for it is yet another incarnation of spiritual truth…

  I wondered how I was led to this book at Border’s (now I know):

  Graceful Exits : How Great Beings Die: Death Stories Of Tibetan, Hindu And Zen Masters
  by Sushila Blackman

• 6 Kim Gelinas Sep 5, 2005

  I like this awareness tool that you’ve posted. It’s not one that I’ve heard before and I think I can use it. I’m financially-challenged and any help I can get to keep from spending in ways that don’t serve my highest good are wonderful.

  My prayers are with you, your husband, and your whole family as he fights his way back to health.

  Namaste,
  Kim

• 7 Claudia Chapin Sep 5, 2005

  Jennifer,
  It is always a treat to hear what you have on your mind. You are living your life with all of the crap that comes with a life and simply sharing how hard life can be and how much life pisses us off. I have great respect for your efforts and the courage you display by sharing yourself with the world. Rally on…..and know that your words help.

• 8 Cindie Thomas Sep 5, 2005

  The Bible tells us to grieve for the things that would cause God to grieve…we are only human.
  I think that all of us are angry and sad a times, the key is being honest.
  It is very difficult foru us to be 100% honest at times because we are afraid of what others will think of us.
  I think it is very healthy to be able to honestly express our feelings and it is wonderful when we find a community that is safe for us to do so.

• 9 Rosie Sep 5, 2005

  Dearest Jennifer,
  Eighteen months ago my precious 19 year old son passed in an accident. There are no words for what I feel, what I felt. Oh yes, all the stages of grief….and finding a way to really want to go on living, to even want to keep on breathing. But there was something BIG stuck in my being, burning in my soul. I tried to reason this out. Pray, meditate, write,… walk, walk, walk. To no avail. I needed to do something and I did.
  I called God out on a deserted beach last summer, on Martha’s Vineyard. I was like a mad woman, a tasmanin devil, wild,wild with grief. I held my fists up to God and said “Let’s GO!!” I wanted a knock down drag-out fight. (I’m weeping now remembering this pain) Pain this immense needs somewhere to go, to be expressed. My Source knew this, my Source had compassion for ITS creation- me.
  I hold you in deep regard for expressing your divine humaness…where would we be without the ability to express an emotion that is part of our creation.
  I believe I would have had serious health issues if I were not able to express my horror and outrage openly with God, Who knows me so well.

  Peace to you my friend.
  Keep on truckin’,
  Rosie

• 10 heidi Sep 5, 2005

  Dear Jennifer,
  Thank you so much for your honesty. Thank you for for sharing both sides of this is what I want to say but this is the truth. Thank you for allowing yourself to be that transparent. I love your self care minder and yet I have never felt compeled to respond like I do after reading about your anger. In my own journey I have come across pockets of anger that I have held down for so long. I have been afraid of my anger, afraid to access it, afraid to voice it. I have also learned that turning my back to it does not get me closer to the authentic self I truely want to live as. I need to honor the voice inside that needs to protest and give it ways to be heard. Thank you for seeking to do that as well. I am grateful for the technology that allows us to share in such a way with each other. Thank you for sharing and inviting us to join in this with you. Your family will continue to bein my prayers.
  Blessings and peace
  Heidi

• 11 Gayatri Sep 5, 2005

  Jennifer, I was truly moved by your self-care minder in which you shared your anger. I share in your sentiments in more ways than I can convey in writing. I thought I might share some holy writings from the Baha’i Faith on the non-existence of evil, and the use of seemingly negative qualities for positive outcomes. To paraphrase, I am encouraged that anger when used against the tyrant is a positive force.
  Gayatri

  The Nonexistence of Evil
  According to Bahá’í philosophy it follows from the doctrine of the unity of God that there can be no such thing as positive evil. There can only be one Infinite. If there were any other power in the universe outside of or opposed to the One, then the One would not be infinite. Just as darkness is but the absence or lesser degree of light, so evil is but the absence or lesser degree of good — the undeveloped state. A bad man is a man with the higher side of his nature still undeveloped. If he is selfish, the evil is not in his love of self — all love, even self-love, is good, is divine. The evil is that he has such a poor, inadequate, misguided love of self and such a lack of love for others and for God. He looks upon himself as only a superior sort of animal, and foolishly pampers his lower nature as he might pamper a pet dog — with worse results in his own case than in that of the dog.
  In one of His letters `Abdu’l-Bahá says: –
  As to thy remark, that `Abdu’l-Bahá hath said to some of the believers that evil never exists, nay rather, it is a nonexistent thing, this is but truth, inasmuch as the greatest evil is man’s going astray and being veiled from truth. Error is lack of guidance; darkness is absence of light; ignorance is lack of knowledge; falsehood is lack of truthfulness; blindness is lack of sight; and deafness is lack of hearing. Therefore, error, blindness, deafness and ignorance are nonexistent things.

  In creation there is no evil; all is good. Certain qualities and natures innate in some men and apparently blameworthy are not so in reality. For example, from the beginning of his life you can see in a nursing child the signs of desire, of anger, and of temper. Then, it may be said, good and evil are innate in the reality of man, and this is contrary to the pure goodness of nature and creation. The answer to this is that desire, which is to ask for something more, is a praiseworthy quality provided that it is used suitably. So, if a man has the desire to acquire science and knowledge, or to become compassionate, generous and just, it is most praiseworthy. If he exercises his anger and wrath against the bloodthirsty tyrants who are like ferocious beasts, it is very praiseworthy; but if he does not use these qualities in a right way, they are blameworthy. …
  Some Answered Questions, pp. 250, 251.

• 12 cindy Sep 5, 2005

  yes keep sharing! even your anger. In my life i always prefer brutal honesty or hard truth to BS, even when it is coming from a doctor.
  never be afraid to share. i dont think that is who you are.
  i think one of the things i like most about you is your inquisitive/ enquiring mind. i see that in your writings. keep it up!
  finally, have been and will continue to keep your family in my prayers.
  peace cindy

• 13 renate Sep 6, 2005

  My anger about Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath centers on the fact that none of the agencies anticipated that the levees would break! They also did not have a plan to evacuate people who did not have cars — They could have set up tent cities in a safe area and bused people there. It is dispicable that the hospitals were not first on the evacuation list. What also angers me is that our society encourages pet ownership, yet when an emergency strikes the evacuation does not involve rescuing the companion animals ALONG with the humans! How horrible it must have been for little traumatized children to have their pets pulled out of their arms as they were loaded onto buses! We really must rethink our shelters and allow those of us who have companion animals to stay in a shelter with them.

• 14 Michelle Sep 6, 2005

  Welcome to the world of blogging. Can’t wait to get caught up on your previous posts and the comments left by your readers. Just finished reading your thoughts about anger. I tend to agree. I choose to see anger as a friend with a purpose, to want to feel it and learn from it just as I would any of my other emotions. Like any emotion it is the voice of my spirit, calling out, wanting to be heard. And when I take the time to listen, to connect, then my spirit becomes stronger and I am better able to meet the needs of myself and the world around me. Can’t wait to read more from you!

• 15 mb Sep 7, 2005

  YOUR ANGER IS FINE…
  NO ANGER FOR ALL THAT IS OCCURING WOULD BE PURE INSANITY — FOR IF YOU DO NOT FEEL ANGER ABOUT ALL OF THESE THINGS, WHAT EXACTLY IS THE POINT???

  Glad you put words to all the things I’ve felt as well — and let me say that sometimes being a pissed off woman is just fine and dandy — we don’t wear it 24/7, but keeping it wrapped about the unjustified ironies is completely human.