Coach Cassandra Rae

1. scream
2. punch a pillow
3. take a kickboxing class
4. go running
5. beat the couch with a swimming noodle
6. ask someone for support

I trust that you will find an appropriate place and time to honor and express anger.

Tags: anger, emotional health, emotions

1. Everyone experiences anger from time to time
2. Feelings of anger do not make you an angry person
3. There are safe and healthy ways to express anger
4. Anger holds an important message for you
5. Suppressing anger stores it up within you

Feel free to add your Simply Fearless truths about anger too!

Tags: anger, emotional health, emotions, empowering, perspectives

Yesterday I posed the question, “So how did I go from a God-hater to a God-follower?” and it all started back in 2005 when I had a blood clot in my left eye that created a permanent blind spot in my central vision.  It happened on April 10th just days before my contract ended – I was a tax consultant at the time.  I was working more hours than I had ever worked in my life and my body screamed, “No more!”

I was able to go on short-term medical disability and dedicate 6 months to taking care of myself.  This was the first time in my life I had the luxury of focusing primarily on me and my family.  I’ve always worked hard at school or a job (and lots of times both of them at the same time).  As luck (or God) would have it, I stumbled across a posting on Craigslist for a Women’s Inspiration Group offered by Life Coach Susan Liddy.

I spent the next 6 weeks learning how to process everything and create a life based on my own personal values.  This was the beginning of my true independence as I learned how to value myself separate from all the other in my inner circle.  It was also the beginning of delving deeper into my soul and this is where I found God.

It didn’t happen in one magical moment.  It happened over years of consistently and slowly connecting with more of myself.  I processed years of unprocessed emotions.  I exposed mountains of beliefs I was unconsciously carrying around that kept me disconnected from myself, others, and God.

At first, it was all about getting comfortable with the anger.  There were valid reasons I was so angry at God (I realized later that the anger was more about religion, but at the time I couldn’t see the difference between God and religion) and I needed to give myself space to fully feel it so that I could let it go.

After the anger, there was a lot of sadness.  I shed tears that had been stored up for what felt like my entire life – and maybe they were.

After the tears, there was a big empty space of nothing.  It felt so good to be in a neutral space after living in negativity for so long.  I was finally at a place where I could say that religion really worked for some people and that was okay.  It was also okay that that’s not what worked for me.  This was so beneficial to my family relationships as I had grown into a space of accepting the fact that they were religious and I wasn’t.  It simply wasn’t a big deal anymore.  {I feel the need to note here that this ability came with a lot of other work that I’m not sharing here simply because it’s a whole other story that I might or might not expand upon in future posts.}

Doh! My half an hour is up so I need to sign off for now, but I’m really enjoying writing about this topic and I look forward to sharing more with you.  Have a great Sunday!

Tags: anger, God, Life Coaching, religion, Spirituality & God

I woke up angry today because it’s Monday, the first day of a new week and I’m exhausted. The entire weekend was non-stop. It began on Friday night with book club. Saturday we left at 8:30am for Berkeley and didn’t arrive home until 9pm with just enough time to unwind a bit and go to bed. Sunday we traveled again to Monterey (about an hour and a half away) so that our daughter could perform. She didn’t end up performing (that’s a whole other issue I may or may not go into). I had just enough time left on Sunday to make a mandatory trip to Costco & Pet Club and begin the laundry I haven’t done for 2 weeks.

And then this morning I found out that my daughter lied to me last night and has been hiding the fact that she wasn’t allowed to buy her bus pass for October because she cut school in September. I mean, damn, it’s almost the end of October and I just found out that she’s been paying her bus fare the entire month.

Okay, so things are not where I want them to be on the home front…on any front really. I’m not where I want to be with my business, with my daughter, with my friend Larissa, and pretty much with myself. It would be so easy for me to seriously beat myself up right now. In fact, that’s what I’ve been doing. And maybe that’s the real reason why I’m angry: I never give myself a break.

It just occurred to me that Coach Vanessa gave me some excellent advice last week about finding freedom through accepting myself. I’m going to go check it out again. I remember that she offered some powerful questions that I haven’t answered yet. It seems like now is a good time to do so.

Tags: acceptance, anger, balance, beating myself up, frustration, life, Parenting