BUILDING COMMUNITY
What Am I to Do With My Fear? My Grief? My Anger? BY THERISIA “TRISH” HALL Have you ever felt totally out of control — like a cartoon character clinging desperately to a wildly spinning object? Or as if you were pos- sessed by some external force, only to discover the force was actually inside you? At times, emotions can feel like being sucked into a vac - uum — one that swirls everything in its path with no regard for what remains standing. Emotions are powerful. They can cripple or empower. They can par- alyze or energize. And during times of upheaval — when what once felt safe and predictable has been overturned — we may forget we hold within us the capacity to redirect that force. We can transmute emo- tional chaos into purposeful energy. We can pause, ask, How am I to serve? — and then listen for what wants to emerge through us. We humans are fascinating creatures. We work relentlessly to make sense of our world, especially when it stops making sense. When life turns upside down, we fight to restore equilibrium — to reestablish a reality where up is up and down is down. We are meaning-making machines, trying to reason our way through the unreasonable. Often unconsciously, we construct stories that explain why what feels wrong isn’t really wrong — or why it must somehow be justified. We can sustain these narratives for a while. Eventually fatigue sets in. Beneath our explanations we discover fear: fear that life will never return to “normal” (if such a thing ever existed). We grieve the loss of what once anchored us. And for many, anger rises, often directed toward whoever or whatever we believe caused our losses or threat- ened our sense of safety. Others turn inward, sinking into despair or depression. This emotional mélange describes the inner world of countless peo- ple right now. Yet there is another remarkable quality woven through our fear, grief, and anger: resilience . It is our survival instinct — the deep intel- ligence that keeps us moving forward even when certainty dissolves. Emotions themselves are part of that intelligence. They are not flaws in our system; they are the system — internal alerts signaling some- thing is out of balance, that we no longer feel safe or oriented. When these alarms sound, our bodies constrict. We feel compelled to defend ourselves and those we love. We cling tightly to the life we once knew, even while doubting whether equilibrium can ever be re- stored. And yet, paradoxically, it is often in these very moments of instability that our greatest inner strength is revealed. Crisis has a way of calling forth capacities we did not know we possessed. Many of us were taught to categorize emotions as “good” or “bad.” But emotions are neither. They are intelligent signaling mechanisms — information carriers. What matters is not the emotion itself, but how we interpret and use the information it provides. Emotional data deserves discernment. Our feelings are filtered through personal history, cultural conditioning, and unconscious bias. Five people can witness the same event and experience five entirely different realities. Likewise, our emotions do not always reflect objec - tive truth. Add to this our innate tendency toward confirmation bias — the inclination to notice what confirms what we already believe while filtering out contradictory evidence. It becomes clear why emotions can feel so convincing in spite of lacking accuracy. Because we assume something to be true, our emotions react in an - ticipation of that assumption being fulfilled, reinforcing the belief and strengthening the emotional response. This feedback loop can trap us — unless we pause long enough to examine it.
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Must reading for building new communities and healing relationships.
Evolutionary Groups is an invitation to bring a new quality of awareness and care to every gathering of two or more. Families, partnerships, teams, friendships, spiritual circles, and healing encounters benefit when we attend to how we gather—not only why. This guide offers a bird’s-eye view of familiar habits and reveals new possibilities for connection, meaning, spirit, and creativity when we
participate from a wider, more unitive perspective. Practical applications translate deeper intuitive truths into everyday choices and conversations that make life together feel more safe, kind, and meaningful. Drawing on decades as teachers and group facilitators in personal transformation, business leadership, and training, Patricia Pfost and Anne Altvater offer language you can use today and practices that mature over time. ~ Available on Amazon ~ www.newwaveofgroups.com
64—PATHWAYS—Spring 26
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