Thank you for joining me on this short teaching exploring hatred.
This is meant to be listened to in tandem with the welcoming hatred guided meditation found on my profile.
Many of us have learned to push away what we see as negative emotions based on a variety of reasons,
Perhaps religious,
Cultural,
Or social.
But we know that it's not healthy for us to repress emotions,
And our meditation practice helps us create space for what is present within ourselves,
Even if it's hard to face.
We want to learn to understand our emotions better,
What they're trying to tell us,
And identify how they show up in our body,
So that we can work with our emotions and use the gift they bring us instead of fighting against them.
In this short teaching before our meditation,
We'll explore how hatred works to bring awareness to the parts of you that have been pushed into your shadow,
So that you can work on reintegrating them and restoring wholeness to your soul.
My teachings and the meditations have been greatly informed by my study of Internal Family Systems Therapy or Parts Work,
Somatic Experiencing,
And the book The Language of Emotions by Carla McLaren.
Let's begin by normalizing our experience of hatred.
Hatred is a natural human emotion.
It is an intense and laser-focused form of rage and fury.
Hatred is what you experience when you project something that is repressed in you onto another person.
When you can get curious about the object of your hate and dig into what exactly it is that you hate,
It can provide you with valuable information about parts of yourself that need integration.
Through an internal family systems lens,
Hatred can serve as fierce protective parts trying to keep exiled parts of your system safe.
If you are able to begin to turn toward your feeling of hatred,
Your hatred will gift you with an ability to look at hidden or suppressed parts of yourself.
Jungian psychology describes the concept of the shadow,
Which contains all the parts of yourself that you have cut off in order to be acceptable,
Perhaps to your family,
Friends,
Or society in general.
If you can approach it with curiosity,
Your hatred can be a pathway to learning about those suppressed aspects of yourself.
Let's talk somatics for a minute.
Hatred can manifest as physical sensations in the body,
Such as tightness in the chest or a knot in the stomach.
Some research has linked feelings of hatred to heightened cortisol levels and overstimulation of the nervous system,
Putting you into fight or flight mode.
Hate can feel fiery in your belly or chest and like pent-up energy that you need to vent out.
It can provide a surge of adrenaline and even lead to heart racing and muscle tension.
By tuning into your own bodily sensations,
You can deepen your understanding of yourself and work with your body and emotions toward healing.
When working with hatred,
We want to ask these two questions.
What has fallen into my shadow and what must be reintegrated?
Hatred serves as a signal from your soul,
Highlighting aspects of yourself that have been suppressed and need to be reintegrated.
By examining the perceived flaws in the object of your hatred,
You can identify and integrate the parts of yourself that you have not been able to express.
The light of your hatred can help you observe these parts of yourself that you may have formerly rejected and work to bring them to wholeness.
Despite its negative connotations,
Hatred holds immense power,
The power to illuminate the darkest corners of our psyche,
The power to catalyze profound transformation.
It is a force that when channeled with awareness can lead us on a journey of self-discovery and integration.
By embracing our hatred and the insights it offers,
We can tap into our inner strength and forge a path toward wholeness.
I want to mention quickly the relationship between adoration and hatred.
They may seem like opposite ends of the emotional spectrum,
But they share a common thread.
They both stem from our inability to fully accept ourselves.
When we admire someone,
We project our idealized self onto them,
While hatred arises when others reflect back the parts of ourselves that we reject.
By understanding this dynamic,
We can see adoration and hatred as two sides of the same coin,
In that they can both point you to a deeper understanding of yourself.
This is really good to remember.
If it feels too tricky to start working with your hatred,
Start by thinking about someone that you adore and what you're projecting onto them as a means to get in touch with your shadow.
If it feels too tricky to start working with your hatred,
Start by thinking about someone that you idolize and what you're projecting onto them as a means to get in touch with your shadow.
And lastly,
I want to point out that of course you do not have to like everyone.
There's a difference between not enjoying someone,
Or not liking how they behave,
Or just not wanting to be around someone,
And the intensity of hatred.
If you've got an intensity of emotion towards someone and you can't detach,
That's a projection.
So let this intensity of emotion guide you to what might be in the shadow and what might need to be reintegrated.
I hope you'll join me in the meditation that follows as we get in touch with our hatred to create space to examine our own shadow.
As we journey together,
Remember that hatred,
When approached with respect and curiosity,
Is a guide to help you integrate lost parts of yourself.
Trust yourself,
Welcome your emotions,
And allow hatred to play its role in acting like a mirror to your own soul.
