As spiritual beings, we cannot bypass what is going on in the world around us. In this episode, I discuss the history of racism in this country and how it affects the world we live in today. I discuss how us ignoring what is happening in the world today is often because we feel guilt/confusion, therefore deflect and how to acknowledge anger within and in society. I share my personal racism journey and why it’s important we aren’t afraid of confronting this huge topic — it’s necessary to move forward in the new paradigm.

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Transcript

Episode 293: Why Are People So Angry? with Sahara Rose
By Sahara Rose

Namaste. It’s Sahara Rose and welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you, your soul’s highest evolvement. 

Before we get into this episode, I just invite you to take a deep breath in-inside out, another deep breath in-inside out; last breath in-inside out. 

There is chaos out there. Chaos. We are angry; we are confused; we are sad; we are grieving; we’re bitter; we’re feeling it all. Every single person, regardless of your skin color; of your nationality. So I just want to acknowledge every single person listening right now. Regardless of where you come from, I want to acknowledge that we’re all feeling it. I want to acknowledge that all of us want what is the best for the world. In each of us, because of our backgrounds, believe that, that thing is different, because of the places that we grew up, because of our parents, because what they told us about our experiences at school, and of course, because of our souls and all of that. We have different ideas of what is right and wrong, and that is what is showing up right now.

Now, we do live in a dualistic world, but there are something called human rights; and human rights are rights inherent to all human beings regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, anything. And one of the human rights, among many, is to not be discriminated because of your race. 

Now, the word ‘race’ and the way that we understand it, is actually not the true definition of what race means. Different races are actually more like different species. There’s only one race, and that’s the human race, and we’re actually all the same race. However, we’re using the word ‘race’ as a construct to identify people of different skin tonalities, cultures, ethnic backgrounds, etc. So we say race, but it’s actually not race, and when I talk about it, and I’m saying it, I just wanted you to know because the word ‘race’ was actually put into our society to make us think that other people are a different species than us. And it’s actually this very word and this idea that someone is a different species than you that can make you oppress them; that can make you think ‘well, if that person is a different species than me, an inferior species than me, then not only is it ok for me to oppress them, but it’s right, it’s helpful, it’s helping them.’ And we’ve seen this done with colonialism around the world (I’ve been posting about this on my Instagram), but the concept that certain countries in Europe – Great Britain, France, Belgium, Spain – were the main, main ones, and they had this belief that they were a superior race, and because they were a superior race with greater beliefs, they thought that it was right and permissible, and in fact helpful for them to travel across the world and take over civilizations. Civilizations that have existed far before theirs; that have advancements that we still don’t understand today. But because they were darker than them, because they had different noses than them, because they had different eyes than them, different languages than them, different practices than them; because of this, they thought that they must be barbarian, backwards, wrong, primitive; and the way that it went down is a bit different in each continent and even in each region within the continent. But in the way that they reacted when they came to Africa was to see these people as strong workers; and because they had strong bodies, as they wrote in their texts, they would make good slaves. And because they needed things to be built, and again to think how someone could think that – but I really want to share with you what their thought process was – they thought ‘they are so strong, they’re great workers and they don’t speak our language, they don’t have a God (it seems so) so let’s have them be our slaves, essentially our unpaid workers. So they took them, and I highly recommend reading the book Roots. If you want to learn more about the history of slavery, watch the movie 12 years of Slave. There’s a lot of stuff out there. If you didn’t grow up in the US, and you’re not aware of the history of slavery, I highly recommend diving into it; and even if you are from the US – maybe the school you that went to didn’t tell you the full picture – dive in, read the People’s History of the US, talk to black people. 

So, long, long, long story short, they took these people from their villages, they looted their villages, took people, broke apart families, raped the women, put them into ships that they did not have any food, really. They had to eat rats often, they were chained, this is actually where ‘step’ the style that you may have seen, the ‘step up to’ comes from. Because they had no musical instruments on these ships for so long, and at the very, very bottom of the ships where there was no air and so many of them would die all chained to each other, and they’d have to spend the next couple of weeks or months with the dead person next to them. And because they had no musical instruments, they would use their bodies, they would create beats, rhythms and that’s actually where ‘step’ comes from.

And you might say “this is so dark, I don’t want to listen to this podcast to hear this”, you need to notice that about yourself. I want you to notice that. I’ll go into that later. 

So they brought them here as slaves and they had them strip to work on plantations, they had cotton plantations, and from these plantations they divided them even further. They said “you’re a field slave, and if you’re extra good, or if you have white skin and if you obeyed the master, then you can be a house slave. So they used the same concept of divide and conquer within their slaves to make the slaves rat each other out, go against each other, not be united. And again, 12 years of Slave is a great movie on this; Amnesty International has so many resources on it, and after about 267 years of slavery I believe, with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, and thousands and thousands and thousands of unnamed protesters whose stories that we will never know. We finally, and this is much later after the Civil War, finally in the 1960s, 1964 I believe, we ended the Segregation. That was not that long ago, that was fifty something, 57 years ago that we ended Segregation, so after slavery, when the slaves were done being sold and cattled; after they had to run on the trail, following the  North star – the Freedom Trail. I forgot, they were put into cities where they were divided; they essentially were put to live in the worst areas of the city. Areas that were prone to flooding, the areas that, you know, the places that where white and a more privileged person would live, would not want to be. And when the Segregation happened, they said ‘well now it’s lifted, now you don’t have to live in these areas anymore’. But if you look at where predominantly black communities still are, they are exactly on those same lines. So I wanted to share a little bit of history because I think that history is our greatest point of power, you know. If you’re into spirituality, it’s essential that you study history and it is essential that you understand the past. If you’re into Ayurveda, ancestor work, Reiki, you need to study the past, you need to understand that these are ancient sciences, and if you only want to do then fun, magical stuff and don’t want to learn about the history alongside it, you’re bypassing.

So, when we look at this history and we look at large, we can see that equality never just happened you know, when Segregation “ended”, equality didn’t just happen, there were still many, many obstacles put before black people, for example not having access to clean water which is still case in Flint Michigan; not having access to food which is still the case in many cities with food deserts; not having a great education – still the case in most public school systems, the list goes on.

So, when we wonder ‘well, they’re free, why are they still complaining’, we’re not accounting for all of the many obstacles that have been put in front of them, and there’s a great video that I saw circulating on social media of this coach, football coach having all of his students in a line, and he said “we’re gonna race to me for a $100, ok, but before this race, I’m gonna ask you some questions and if they apply to you take two steps forward.” So he’s like “who grew up with two parents in his house; who grew up with always knowing where they were going to get their next meal from; who grew up not hearing gunshots at night; who grew up..and the list goes on of these things that would be extremely difficult for you to succeed in life. They’re huge obstacles. And then when he looked at the field, it was almost exclusively black people who were in the back,and almost exclusively white people who were in the front. That is not to say that white people don’t have problems, that is not to say that all white homes must be great and all black homes must be crap, that is not to say that. It is highlighting that there is systemic, socio-economic disparity. That is undisputed, that you can study sociology, you can talk to a social worker or just look around you, it doesn’t take a lot of self-awareness to realize that. So when there is systemic oppression, systemic racism, systemic socio-economic divides, people are not going to be happy; people are not going to feel like they are included; they’re not going to feel like they have an equal chance to succeed when there are so many roadblocks in front of them. And then – our police system. And again, I’m not saying that everyone in the police applies to this, but I am talking about the systems here. Our police system was formulated when we still had slavery. And it was used, the tactics used are continuing the tactics used to suppress black people, to keep them down. And today, (not all, but some) cops, will look at a black person differently, will instantly think that if you’re black, you must be dangerous, and that’s not exclusive to cops. No one’s listening, no one is around you – have you ever crossed the street because you saw a black person?; have you ever clutched your bag?; have you ever felt like you were in danger around a black man specifically? If you live in an area that has a variety of people, chances are that you have – and it’s ok to admit that, we actually have to admit that to move forward. 

But why? I actually want to go deeper into why that is, why are we afraid of black people? Because of the systemic, socio-economic oppression. Because, (and I’m not saying that this is right) there are less chances to succeed. It is more likely for someone to get involved in a gang when they don’t have a family at home; it is more likely for them to sell drugs when they don’t have other paths to economic success, and they might have a mom with kids who are now relying on this 13-year-old boy to provide for them. I am not saying it’s right, I’m just sharing with you what it is. 

So, because there are all these blocks, people are fed up; they’re angry. Particularly in this case, in this scenario right now, what they are angry with is the police brutality. I’m sure most of us have watched the video of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. Maybe you’ve seen others, of police unnecessarily using brutality towards innocent people. And some have argued that they’re not only killing black people, they also kill white people too. And that is true. White people die at the face of police too, that is true. There are a lot of different colors that die. The issue is – do we react the same way when we see a white man vs a black man. Was a white man brought here because he was meant to be a slave? Was he systemically oppressed by this very system over 300 years? No. And there are other minorities. I’m a minority. Mexican people are a minority; Hispanic. There are many minorities here. But what is exclusive to the black American community is that they were brought here against their will. And we can’t negate that. And we can’t say ‘I had it just as hard as they did and I’m not complaining’, because you weren’t brought here in a slave ship, forced to do completely inhumane things for hundreds of years. If we want to talk about ancestry and ancestral healing, how do you think that’s going to affect how you feel? There’s a lot of deep, deep, deep ancestral pain, and I’m not saying that anger is always the solution, but I’m saying that it’s almost always a part of it. Because you can’t experience joy, unity and bliss when you don’t move through the anger. A lot of people feel uncomfortable with anger, and again, in all colors, but especially white people. And when I say ‘white’, a lot of white people get very offended by this term. They say “I’m not white because I have  0.16% native American blood; or it feels accusatory to call me white”. I understand that, and the system of white has existed as a form of oppression, and we can’t now, because you feel guilt around it, pretend that it didn’t happen. And I know a lot of white people right now feel a lot of deep ancestral guilt. Just like black people feel deep ancestral pain and suffering, a lot of white people feel deep guilt. They feel ‘well it wasn’t me who brought the slaves over here’ or ‘when are we going to forgive and forget’ or ‘why do I have to pay the price’ or ‘I don’t understand what they’re so angry about’ and just continuing the bypassing or not listening and hopefully at this point you’re able to understand why you’re angry. But I want to tell you that what your ancestors did, even if it was wrong, is not your fault. You don’t have to feel guilty, you don’t have to feel wrong, it is not your fault. However, you do get to acknowledge that it happened. You do get to acknowledge that it affected people. You do get to acknowledge that it is a part of history, especially part of the history of the United States. It is what built the White House; it is what built the plantations; it is what made this country so “great”, made America free again. Hmm..that’s what I say. 

I’m trying as hard as I can not to get super-sassy right now, but I just want people really to understand. I want this to be an episode where you can share with maybe your friends, your family members, who just don’t get it, they might just feel like ‘I don’t get why people are so mad, why are they so angry? I feel like I can’t talk about it without getting attacked’. I hear you. I hear you. You feel so overwhelmed by people’s anger right now. That, it’s easier for you to be silent and disengage; to pretend it’s not happening; to decide if you’re too spiritual for it; or the easy-to-go-to-one – to think that they are wrong. Well they’re breaking apart small businesses and they are hurting themselves. I think everyone can agree that looting small businesses is wrong. However, let’s get out of as we said not all cops are bad; not all looters are bad and good. There are always going to be people in any type of group that take advantage. There are always going to people who, and especially because of the socio-economic gap, take advantage of situations like this and do steal; and when we look at the footage, we see white people, Hispanic people, all sorts of colors who are stealing and looting and taking advantage, and I will be the first to say that I believe that is wrong, that I don’t think it’s helping, and as we can see a lot of protestors are stopping them, they are standing in front of the stores and colluding even the Walmarts and Targets that are a part of the corporate system, but they’re standing in front of them and saying ‘No, this is wrong, stop doing it!’. And we’re also getting information that a lot of the people who are creating the conflict are not from the protest. I don’t know who they are, but there are different groups. If you go to the protests during the day and go the night, there are different groups. And the people who are coming at night are not the ones who are singing and chanting and doing the same peaceful acts they are doing during the day. There are different groups of people who are taking advantage of the situation, whether they are white, Ku Klux Klan, Fascists or from other groups, (that’s not what this podcast is about) but I’m seeing a lot of people bypass the situation of what is actually happening right now by pointing the blame at these individuals who are taking advantage of the situation. Because they are not the representative of the movement; they are not the reason why people are protesting; they have nothing to do actually with ‘Black Lives Matter’. They’re taking advantage of the situation, we can all agree with that. 

However, let us focus on the cause. Let us focus on why people are so angry, why people are so outraged that they feel helpless. They feel like we’ve wrapped, we’ve protested, we’ve hashtagged you know. I was watching a video and he was sharing all the things that the black community has done to be heard; the football player that was staying down on one knee during the national anthem – ‘Ohh how dare he be down on one knee’, and another cop does it and they somehow ok that. So this isn’t the first time that black people have spoken about feeling unheard. This might be the first time that a lot of white  people are listening, and the reason why is because they’re feeling uncomfortable. So this is why people are protesting and taking the streets, because they need to create a bit of a splash to be heard, because clearly Kentrical Mars song wasn’t enough. Clearly, all of the hashtags, all of the initiatives, all of the fundraising, it wasn’t enough because this keeps happening. And it’s not just about George Floyd. This is another way that people deflect. ‘Why are they all mad about just one person, all of this because of one person’, look they’re going to go to jail, just leave us alone! It’s not all because of him. He was the last straw on the camel’s back. He was the tipping point. He was the very thing that made people realize enough is enough! That brought enough people together across lines, to be like we’re not going to take this any longer, especially when two ago Ahmaud Arbery was on a run and was gunned down, hunted like an animal. This isn’t ok. And anyone who actually believes this is a flat out white-suppremists racist. And I’ll do another episode. I’ve been posting on my Instagram how to handle conversations with racist family members because I think a lot of us have them and that’s not just white people, I think that a lot of minorities have a lot of racism as well, that is for sure. But let’s first focus on understanding the situation. 

What I’m experiencing is a lot of people, who are white, feel very uncomfortable with this. They feel called-out, they feel like they’re made wrong before they are able to speak, they feel like they can’t share anything without being attacked. And I know this because I have a lot of friends who are white. And I understand and I empathize. However, you feeling comfortable all the time is not what is going to create change. It’s actually through feeling uncomfortable. It’s through moving through the discomfort and seeing what is the medicine in there for you. For example, when people say: “Well, why black lives matter?” Because all lives matter, you know, “why are we just talking about black lives? It’s all lives.” Have you said that? Has anyone said that? So let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about the statement of ‘all lives matter’. Because I do remember a couple years ago when I first heard black lives matter, my friend first thought too was – all lives matter, because I believe in all humans, all human races so I understand it. Let’s talk about why that is a problematic thing to say right now. And again, I’m not judging you. It’s our gut reaction, our initial reaction to be like “Wait! Why black lives, it’s all lives, it’s everyone”. Because we’re so used to being at the center of the conversation, so when we hear about black lives, we feel left out. We feel like “But what about me, my life doesn’t matter?” So, it’s not saying that black lives matter and no one else does. It’s paying attention to the fact that right now, out of proportion, black people are being unjustly killed by our political and police system. It’s like saying, a good example that I heard was ‘let’s say my house was on fire, and I’m like “guys, my house is on fire, my house is on fire, and then my next door neighbour was like “excuse me, well I have a house too, my house doesn’t matter?” And it’s like, “no, I never said your house doesn’t matter, my house is on fire right now.” Well what about all houses? All houses matter. Yes, all houses matter and my house is on fire right now and we need to pay attention to my house and put out this fire. If your house is on fire, we’ll put that out. It’s not systemic racism in a system. I’m not saying that racism doesn’t exist towards white people, but we don’t have a systemic racism towards white people. Our system isn’t like ‘if you’re white you’re going to get pulled over by the cops; if you’re white you’re gonna get flagged at the airport; if you’re white you’re not more likely to get shot by strangers. That’s just not what our system is. Because of how it is set up, because of the history I explained. So right now, we’re focussing, as a collective, on black lives. And because of our privilege, and another hard word for people to hear, and I get it, but we’ve got to confront it, because of our privilege. The privilege that we have had to be at the center of conversation; to be heard; to be listened to; because of that we can’t handle someone saying black lives matter because we immediately want to be a part of the picture. Does that make sense? Even more so than that, when people are saying that black lives matter and you come in commenting whatever “Well all lives matter”, it’s actually a form of gas-lighting. 

So what it is, it’s actually making black people and people of color question their reality for you to keep your power or your status quo. So, what you’re doing is, you’re making them feel like they’re wrong to say that; they are wrong to vocalize their opinion; that you’re feelings matter more than their lives. Okay, and I know that some people may come at you with anger, but you have to understand why that anger is there. I know that it can make you feel uncomfortable and I know that it can make you feel guilty, but that’s how we grow, and I see so many people especially in the spiritual community bypassing this whole situation and they’re saying “Well I don’t feel called to post about this because it’s not in my reality and I don’t want to be bullied into posting about it.” No one should bully anyone to post about anything. I don’t believe in that, post whatever you want to post. However, if you genuinely don’t feel connected to your brothers and sisters, your fellow humans who have been brought here and oppressed for hundreds of years; if you genuinely feel no connection, no tie, then you’re not a very spiritual person. Because spirituality is about being connected to the collective energy, and you choosing to just disconnect yourself is the definition of ‘bypass’, this term ‘spiritual bypass’. You are saying “I don’t want that in my reality because it’s painful to look at; because it’s not my reality; I’m white; I’m privilege; I don’t have to worry about the police; I don’t have to worry about any of those things that you have to worry about, so I don’t want to care about it.” And sadly, I have seen a lot of spiritual people with big platforms take this stance. And to me, there’s no point in arguing, there’s no point in trying to convince someone that doesn’t want to, but just let that be a reflection of who they are and what they care about. And it’s not your job to make someone care about something they don’t. However, the more you awaken, the more that you realize that we are connected to all beings, and as the Buddha says: “No one is free until all beings are free from suffering.” If we want to talk about the fact that we are one, then let’s talk about if we are one then the pain that our brothers and sisters are going through is also our pain. But, instead, what I’m seeing a lot of “spiritual” people do is to say “Oh, well, we’re all one, so I don’t see color; oh, we’re all one so stop separating between the black and white people.” And they’re using this as a way to justify their stance and how they want to feel, and their comfort and their privilege. Again, it’s subconscious and it takes deep work. This is why they’re calling it dismantling. And what a beautiful word for that. You are dismantling your white privilege as Layla Saad has a beautiful book Me and White Supremacy, and I will have our anti-racism document in the show notes with plenty of beautiful black authors who have been writing about this cause for years now and have really dedicated their lives and are far more of an expert than I am. I’m just here to share with you from my perspective of being a part of this movement, of being very activated in it. 

So, for example, I had a message from a girl saying “Well, why are you posting all of this? It’s creating more separation, and I don’t see color and I’m so disappointed in you.” Actually that was her word – disappointed. And first of all, I want to share that if someone tells you that they are disappointed in you, I want you to remind them that they are not your parents; you’re not here to please them. Even to use the word ‘I’m disappointed’ shows that you have some form of authority over them; that they are here to please you, and even that if they don’t act the way you want them to act; then they are a disappointment to you because you are on some weird pedestal that they put you on, and now that you’ve spoken your truth, you’ve been stooped off and you’re garbage now. And when I see people say ‘disappointment’; it’s something that we’ve actually learned. We hear it from our parents and then we actually put it upon complete strangers. So no one can disappoint you because no one is here to please you. If someone ever tells you that they’re disappointed in you, be like “Yo! I wasn’t appointed by you, so it’s not my job.” So, she said that and what it made me realize is just how many spiritual people have not done this work yet. Because they’ve been around other people who look like them, in white communities, in white yoga-teacher-trainings taught by white teachers. You know, maybe there’s like a couple people of color thrown in there, but they weren’t too black, they weren’t too Mexican, they weren’t too Muslim, too something else. So, it didn’t start to pop too much and it made you happy, it made you feel diverse, like you have some cool colored friends. Again, nothing wrong. It’s how our society is set up right now. But because of that it feels so uncomfortable for them to not be at the center of the conversation and so uncomfortable for them to realize that not everyone has had the same upbringing and experiences as they have. It’s really hard to think that some people don’t feel safe in their bodies because of the color of their skin, that’s painful. It’s hard to think about. However, when someone expresses to you that, that is the reality, and to tell them “Well, no, that can’t be your reality, all lives matter, you’re creating more separation, we’re all one”, that is making their pain so much worse. You’re essentially negating their experience. It’s like when someone opened their heart to you and you say “No, you’re lying”. It’s a horrible feeling. It’s a feeling that I would never wish upon anyone but so many people are doing it to others in the name of oneness, spirituality, whatever. Yes, from the most quantum level we are all one, for sure, and we’re all unique. Like I said, we’re all one human race and we have different ethnicities, different cultures and that’s what makes us beautiful. So, let’s stop pretending that we don’t see it, that it doesn’t exist and instead honor it. I honor the color of your skin; I honor that you’re born in a different country than me; I honor that you grew up speaking a different language than me; I honor that you had different beliefs than me. We have to see it and honor it, not bypass it. It just shows our immaturity to do it. You think that it’s making you more spiritual, but it’s not. It’s actually hurtful, and ask any person of color how hurtful it is. 

You know I have been sharing some of my racism experiences, and again, I’m not black and I have not experienced the systemic oppression that black people have in this country. And I have also experienced my own form of racism because I’m a middle-Eastern, south-Asian brown and born Muslim. You know, my family is Muslim but I don’t practice it and I wasn’t raised practicing it, and I am if you look it up. When 9/11 happened, me being the only brown person in school, I was pulled aside by the assistant teacher not to ask how I was, but to ask me if I knew anyone involved in the attacks and if I spoke Arabic, because I was wearing black that day and because I have brown skin, because I have a muslim name. So from that time I learned very quickly when kids started to call me a terrorist, a sant, M-word, hairy, all of these different words based off, of my race, my ethnicity. I learned very early on that I was different. And my family would go to New Hampshire a lot, which is a very libetarian ‘live-free-or-die state’, and is a beautiful state and there are a lot of redneck conservatives there. And I remember so many instances of my dad being pulled over because of how he looks. One time, for two hours, they made him do different tests to show that he wasn’t drunk driving and that he was dead sober – stand on one leg, walk on this – the guy was a clear white supremasist, he was verbally abusing, he was screaming, he was doing everything he could to get my dad in jail because he didn’t like a brown, muslim person in New Hampshire; that you must be up to no good especially after 9/11 when being racist against muslim people, middle-eastern people and still today it’s not even spoken about. In some ways it is still completely accepted to “Oh my God that person is speaking Arabic or Farsi on the airplane – they must be a terrorist; oh that person has a beard – they must be a terrorist.” It’s actually something we don’t even speak about. And I remember him going through two hours of tests and the guy just yelling and handcuffing him and being so brutal, and I was maybe 12 years old in the car just hysterically crying. Crying, thinking that my dad is about to be taken away. I remember being chased with guns a different time because we visited someone’s house and they saw that we were brown and they thought that we were up to no good and they didn’t want us there and they chased us away with guns. So when I talk about this pain, I want you to see that it is real. I want you to see that people of color are not making this up. That there is a lot of deep pain from all people – from black people, from Hispanic people, from Asian people – there is a lot of deep pain. That, if you were a white American born in this country, didn’t have to experience. And to negate that, to think you’re too spiritual for it is just as bad as the person who oppressed, the person who created it. 

So, I want to share with you my perspective because I know a lot of you listen to the podcast and you resonate with my work, and maybe never thought that I’m a person of color. And it’s not a topic that I even need to speak about most of the time because I have done a lot of healing work around it. You know, when I went to college I only wanted to be around brown people that looked like me because I felt so uncomfortable with white people and after a few years of that I was able to heal that and I was able to feel comfortable with white people again, not to feel like I was different than them and that they were only friends with me because I was brown. I definitely experienced people inviting me to things, to add diversity, and it’s pretty obvious to me, and I definitely experience that still today, but I feel at a place now that I can be friends with people of all nationalities, not because it makes me feel more comfortable to be around people of my same background, but because I resonate with them on a soul level. And that’s what we are moving to. We are moving to all of us, unifying as one on a soul level, but that’s not going to happen until we address our differences; until we address the pain; until we address the oppression. And if you have felt it, it’s ok right now to feel angry; it’s ok right now to feel confused and enraged and disgusted that some of your friends and family may just not give a fuck. I know for me, my inner warrioress has turned on, this is not a time for me to be passive, to go inwards, go on a Vipassana – the time of the sadna, the inward time – that was coronavirus, this is a different era right now. And it’s beautiful, your passion is beautiful, your activism is beautiful, your anger is beautiful, your sadness is beautiful. Feel it! Don’t bypass it! Feel it! Because just to disconnect yourself and think you’re too spiritual for it, it’s just going to prevent the healing from happening. For yourself mostly, and for everyone else that is affected by your choices. 

So, I wanted to share this with you because this is the topic that is happening in our world right now and you know I have other podcasts that were planned on schedule but who gives a fuck right now because we’re in the middle of a revolution. And this is why we reincarnated. And this is why we’ve shown up. And this is why we’ve chosen this lifetime. And this is why we’re doing the work. So, take care of yourself because we’re in this for the long run. Like I said at the beginning of the coronavirus – this isn’t going to be a week or two-week thing, then your Instagram feed goes back to normal, mhh-mhh. This is not that. This is the beginning of a conversation that needed to be had a long time ago. This is a time that they’re going to look back on in history textbooks, and you’re going to tell your grandkids “yeah, I was alive for that.” Tomorrow, I’ll be at the protests, which I’m super excited about. It’s going to be our one-year wedding anniversary and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than for fighting for justice and for standing up for a better future so my kids don’t have to experience the racism that I have gone through. So, no one has to.       

So, if you feel activated, if you feel passionate. If you at least feel something. I encourage you to use that energy and do something with it. Share your voice. Share it through social media. Share it maybe with the kids you teach at school. Share it with family. Share it with your clients. Share it with anyone that you can.  

I’ll do another podcast on dealing with racist family members because I know that is a huge issue for a lot of us, and I even have racist (not personally-related family members) but in-laws. We’ll talk about that later. And it’s a lot. It’s a lot to deal with. So, I’ll do another episode on that, but right now let’s do our inner work. Let’s look in ourselves; let’s dive in; let’s look at our memories with race, with culture. When was the first time you realized that you were your color skin; when was the first time you became aware of a black person, Asian person, Hispanic person; what are your memories around it; how did you feel around it, how did you feel growing up; how did you feel in middle school, how did you feel in high school; how did you feel in college if you went to college? Dive into it, journal about it, that’s one thing the Rose Gold Goddesses know. I have a completely different goddess plan, wrote the whole ebook and this happened and we piffed, we’ve changed, and this month’s Goddesses is going to be doing this work. We’re diving in, so come, join us in Rose Gold Goddesses if you’re interested in being a part of a spiritual community that doesn’t spiritual bypass, that talks about the real -ish, and naturally without me ever trying or having to gear it this way, but about fifty percent of our members in Rose Gold Goddesses are people of color and I know this because I’ve done events in New York, Miami, LA, San Francisco and it was at least 50% of each room, actually minimum 50%, were people of color. And it just shows the diversity of people who listen to this podcast and who resonate with my work and how beautiful it is. And how that we can honor all of the goddesses. You see we’re all goddesses but some people embody Yemaya’s beautiful african energy; and some people Seraswatis; and some people white buffalo calf women; and some people Ixchel, and we can honor all of that. We don’t have to be like “No! There’s only one Goddess, no the rest don’t exist!” No,I say there’s so much to learn from all of these cultures and we honor and we respect them all, equally. That is what this is about. So, if you’re interested to come join us in this community with my monthly Goddess circles with different themes each month related to Goddess energy, we have workshops twice a month for our members, opportunities for you to share your own workshops with your community. We are highlighting black voices right now. We’ll be highlighting black voices on this podcast as well. We’re doing the work and of course it has all of my other master classes on all of the topics. But right now I really call you to look at this area of your life. To take this opportunity to do this work. Because the rest of it – sacred sexuality, dharma – it’s there, but right now let’s just sit in this, let’s sit in what this global experience is, and what it is, let’s not bypass this moment in history. And the more that we can realize the internal prejudices that we carry, the more that we can clear them for the world. 

So thank you so much for listening. I’m so grateful for you being here and for being a part of the movement. 

If you loved this episode, I would love to send you a free gift which is the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for Your Mind Body Type. This is a different book than EatFeelFresh. My first book ever which is not released anywhere, and I’m gifting it exclusively to those who leave a review of my podcast on the itunes store. So all you gotta do is head over to the itunes store where you’re maybe listening to this podcast and leave a review, take a screenshot that you’ve left it and email it over to me at [email protected] and I will send you the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for Your Mind Body Type, which goes all the way into Ayurveda, Doshas, plant-based nutrition, and body types – all of the things in a really fun and engaging way. So this is my gift to you for supporting the podcast. Every single review I personally read. It really helps the podcast be listened to by more people so that we can raise the vibration of the planet together, and I am soul grateful to have you on this journey.

Thank you so much for listening and I’ll see you on the next episode. Namaste.         

Episode 293: Why Are People So Angry? with Sahara Rose
By Sahara Rose