12 Comments

Everything you’ve said here echoes my own deep dives / creative work in the realms of trauma, compassion for self and others, living from the heart - and its risks. “Life is pain, princess.” I’m with you. Let’s meet the rage and sorrow with a kind heart, one who knows how to celebrate life while not denying reality. “I do believe in Fairies! 🧚 I do!”

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I don't find I encounter outright toxic aggression but more a wheedling coercion. People want something from me & instead of directly asking they present it as an opportunity (despite its disrupting my life). It's usually quite difficult to refuse; it just feels very manipulative. I'm not sure why it feels so vexing. What you're describing sounds like people sensing a profoundly negative shift in their world, and it's verboten to speak to it. So that fear comes out as unpleasant inappropriate aggression. This definitely is a unique time, our civilization being under stressors it's not experienced before. I empathize with your need to not participate. It's like conflict is being normalized, that one's somehow entitled to feeling outraged at the slightest provocation. It's plausibly an uncivil, unhealthy psychological condition taking hold.

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Beautifully written. And I feel your pain at having to deal with rage, but sadly as I have discovered myself rage manifests itself in many ways...some outright, others hidden, insular...dystopia. Sadly the world is full of injustices, and creating world free of at-least petty injustices is the only genuine way to eliminate rage!

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❤️❤️

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Stay tender. ❤️‍🩹

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Stunningly beautiful. The growing tenderness is showing and you are right in that place you should be, between the feast and the ground. ( or the ground and the feast) ❤️

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I’m also reading Wintering at your recommendation. I struggle with being right vs having peace, thankfully peace is winning. Thank you

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Nov 11, 2022Liked by Elissa Altman

aww this is beautiful

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