The anger we experience is a form of defensive mechanism. We have accumulated anger, and that energy needs an expression outlet. The only way to do it is through blame and judgement against people for spreading the virus. Anger is our instinctive response to force protection for the collective. It gives us feedback to establish our survival and keeps us surviving. It may seem illogical, but anger state of consciousness could protect us from falling into a deep state of grief and apathy.
Shifting Anger into Compassion
Anger cannot protect us in the long term, and it’s not the best emotion to handle the COVID-19 crisis. Do realise that the infected people get angry too. It would be more difficult for them to express anger and fight for their lives at the same moment. Just take a second to reflect their emotional turmoil which they experience in isolation. It’s burdening!
No one should go through this alone, and anger would separate us! It certainly weakens our immune system too. Instead, we could shift the anger into compassion which suits better to handle the global health crisis.
Compassion is not about showing love or masking our feelings with goodness. To be compassionate is to have shared feelings of pain and hope with those who are infected. The virus divides us in an unthinkable way. Compassion bridges us together emotionally and spiritually (rather than separate us into two extreme polarities). It may even take away the fear and pain we experience in isolation.
When my friend was in the ICU, my anger turned into compassion. She survived COVID-pneumonia, but many others may not. Let’s cultivate compassion towards ourselves and others especially those who are infected by the virus. It is pure essence which brings us the light of hope that we can survive this together. Compassion is capable of transcending the grief we carry from losing millions of people in this unseen battle.
