anger | Robbins Hopkins

Oct 22 2020

That’s Your Problem

Yet, another fight with hurtful, flung words
Escalating volume and bulging eyes
Red faces, slamming doors, and stalking off down the stairs
With angry tones and nasties still following both of us

What brings us each to these places?
What other options do I have?
What other options does my other have?
What do we do when it is all over?

Inner exploration is the only sure thing that works for me
What triggers me again and again, needs my setting down
My not feeling heard or understood, needs my clearing
My words not seemingly received as valuable, needs my attention

As anger escalates and stays at a heightened, hidden level
The biggest temptation is to bury the issues and the experience
Tiptoe around them and both pretend we do not have
An enormous pink elephant in the room

Pretty soon we are skilled at not addressing anger
We get to a place of lackluster and self-protection
We choose immediate placating and ignoring
Hoping it will all blow over and somehow just disappear

However, when the same issues come up again
The energy is fueled from all the previous times
We have stalked off and pretended we made up
Put on a good face without doing the inner clean up

God of all, help me see what is not at peace within
Help me honor what is not at peace for my other
Help me be brave enough to try again when calmer
Help me be open to what is hurting for my other

I call forth love and kindness for us both
Compassion for my other and for myself
Joy that we are together through thick and thin
Inclusive energy where I don’t get to say, That’s your problem.

Created with a big nod to Thich Nhat Hanh

Oct 15 2020

Inner Work Is Calling

Where have my happy places gone?
I miss my friends and my own laughter
I long to have things to look forward to
The thrill of celebration is strangely muted

I did not fully realize that my life
Was organized around looking forward to newness
Seeking all that is sparkly and unique
Escaping from daily life by going out on the town

Isolation is a mighty and strange condition
It brings up sticky issues and feelings
I absolutely do not care to revisit, yet still
Audaciously get right up in my face, uninvited

In the corner awaits the thorny work
Around every block, my frustrations flair
While totally minding my own business
Old pains emerge that I had successfully buried

When all distractions are taken away
The inner work boldly presents to fill the void
Of course, I have to choose to see it
I had become so adept at hiding from it

With an abundance of down time
A total paucity of scheduled events
Prickly issues keep erupting from within
Saying, here I am again, remember me?

You can’t escape me forever
No way girl, I’ve got your number
I am still here, always just hiding
Until you mess up again for real

I am waiting you out in the long game
Sporting infinite patience and perfect timing
With so few distractions at present,
Give that saggy ‘ole self-perception, the boot

Go ahead, give a try at being your best self
Set down that old irritation and anger forever
Spend some more time with the Great Spirit
We have lots more juicy things to talk about

Aug 19 2020

Your ‘I AM’ Presence Awaits

The ‘I AM’ Presence is your unconditional connection with Divine Source/God/All That Is. Every person has this connection regardless of life circumstances. To activate that energy you have to claim that connection out loud for it to fully activate. Otherwise, you can spend you entire life missing out on working from your highest self.

Speak the following out loud.

I call forth my ‘I AM’ Presence as I prepare to confront my daughter about her recent behaviors and grades.
From my ‘I AM’ Presence, I bless the marriage of Johan and Moan, for their highest good to manifest.
From the combined power of my ‘I AM’ Presence and God’s Glory, I command an honest, wise, collaborative, and people serving federal government manifest for this country.
Through my ‘I AM’ Presence, I call forth the most perfect professional position for me at this time.
With the power and determination of my I AM Presence, I command the deepest cleansing for rebalancing the Nation’s mind, body, and soul manifesting as systemic racism in the United States of America.

You are made in the image of God. You have seeds of God-ness all through you. You have to call forth the I AM power and energy for it to fully come alive in this dimension. Know and prepare for your negative feelings, discord, and negative thoughts to come to your surface as you begin to use this energy. By working with the I AM Energy, all that is not a part of this energy will show up for healing. If you ignore these issues, they will increase in severity without fail.

Doing your inner work is your side of the equation in your relationship with God. You can choose to go through life and ignore this inner work. However, as you are everlasting in spirit, you will have to address the imbalances, sooner or later. If you do it sooner, you will be free of those negative thoughts and feelings and their consequences sooner. However, it is your choice. You can take all the lifetimes you want to come to a place of doing inner work. However, the imbalances when ignored, grow bigger and bigger.

Every human is here potentially growing in the understanding of being created and sustained in Love. Regardless of what is around you, your core energy is Love. It could be covered over with fear, abuse, addiction, negative self-perceptions, arrogance, violence, or anger but at the core, all humans were created and sustained in Love. How to start?

Say these out loud. Hold the space for healing. Give thanks.

1. From my ‘I AM Presence’ I bring my feelings of ______________________ to this Sacred Space for healing and rebalancing. (shame, guilt, apathy, sorrow, fear, anger, desire, pride, arrogance, jealousy, self-hate, being a loser, etc.) Thank you for the healing.

2. With my ‘I AM’ Presence I call for clearing of the core reasons for my _________________________ that is no longer serving me or anyone else around me. (lying, cheating, embezzling, hatred, racism, competitiveness, mistreatment, violence, abuse, excessive drinking, addiction to ________, suspicion, etc. )Thank you for the healing.

3. Through my ‘I AM Presence’, I forgive wholly and completely ________________________ . ( myself, all those I have hurt, all my colleagues, my brother/mother/aunt/cousin/neighbor, etc. Thank you for the healing.

4. From my I AM Presence, I call forth Divine help and guidance for _______________________. ( my relationship, my next professional steps, my physical pain, my daughter’s job search, the future of my department, George/Janice/Shiela, the mess I have made of_____, etc. Thank you for the healing.

Work on any of the above issues for a few years and watch your life grow and change!! See my blog, found under Learn on the home page, at www.robbinshopkins.com and search with the words ‘I AM’ or ‘I am’ and see all the other posts on this subject.

Jul 27 2020

GOD of All, Hear Us In Our Hour of Need

We lay our profound suffering before You
Calling for an end to vast sadness and grief
Commanding the inclusion of all peoples in Grace
Hear us now, as endless darkness deepens

We are lost in fear and doubt,
Angst and sorrow so profound,
Getting out of bed is humbling
Getting to sleep, impossible

My heart shrinks and shrivels up with
Thousands feeling loss, destitution, and brokenness
Pervading fear grips the strongest among us
Endless trials repeat, each darker than before

Thousands crossing the Brooklyn Bridge
Hundreds gassed at peaceful protests
Nameless, faceless paramilitary units
Threatening, confronting, with anger, then arrest

God of All, the old hatreds must go and soon
We cannot sustain this level of bedeviling disarray
We can’t return to the horrors of the past
The horrors of the present must end, and swiftly

Thousands unable to pay the rent, find a job, bury their dead
Thousands of businesses gasping for one more breath
Daily number explosions of more sick, dying and dead
Dreams, hopes, nest eggs, disappearing, perhaps forever

Guide us to peace, safety, and forgiveness
Bring us to the expanding path of Wholeness
Help us ensure that together, we all rise on the tide
Ever staring down darkness, by choosing Love

I choose to be kinder and clear out my anger and fear
I call in more compassion, banish all remnants of ego
Guide me to walk humbly with my God on the toughest days
Cleanse me of doubt and bring me home when my work here is finished

Jun 10 2020

The Heart of the Nation

The heart of the nation is raw
With fear and violence
Burning anger and rage
Beatings, smashing, and killings

And still we do not see
That we are part of the cause
We are the blinded ones
We are hiding from the darkness

We live in safe communities
And hope the discomfort
Quickly passes us by
With little disruption to our lives

Let others do the marching
Let others deal with the fall out
Surely this will “return to normal”
Sooner than later, as swiftly as possible

But the images are so bloody
What if we were one of those
Being singled out for our skin color
Being chased and killed through hatred

We want protections from this happening
We want everyone to make this go away
We want the cops to stop being racist
We want those killings to cease and desist

But it is not only the killings
It is living in abject fear of being singled out
Living with constant need to keep one’s head down
Every single day in public and never feeling safe

This causes entrenched resentment
Deep anger, righteous indignation
Mistrust and more segregated communities
Mistreatment for all while everyone lives in fear

When one among us is at risk
We are all at risk because we tolerate
Those among us who are at risk
And go about our lives as if we are separate

Nothing works when this is the response
No one learns to change, when isolated
No one practices compassion unless
Closeness is personal and meaningful

Beware, our feeling bad does not change a thing
The compassion felt from TV news touches no one
The shaking of one’s head and returning to normal
Leaves those at risk, still at risk

All have to stand for justice
For freedom, for goodness for all
For opportunities for all
For good systems available to all

This has to be the way forward
To stem the flood of sorrow and grief
Beyond simply patching up the brokenhearted
All have to banish racism in all forms

Then all become truly safe and whole
No other way works for all people
And so it is, for now and for always
With determined hearts, so it can be.