When Helplessness Becomes Rage, and What To Do About It
There’s an energy bubbling up within the collective right now. It has long laid under the surface, being pushed down and suppressed. Over time, it has developed into a deep, ancient pool of emotion.
It’s rage. But it’s a specific type of rage: the rage that comes from being helpless. helplessness rage, healing helplessness, healing big emotions, energy healing powerlessness, reiki powerless
Helplessness
What does it mean to be helpless?
Helpless is defined as: being powerless; being unable to help oneself; lacking support or protection; marked by an inability to act or react. “Helpless means unable to do anything to help yourself or anyone else, or against someone or something” (Cambridge Dictionary).
Think of all that you know about the struggle of women over the centuries of the patriarchy. Women have been helpless to do anything about the abuse, subjugation, and oppression they suffered.
Think of all that you know about the lives of people of colour—whether Black, Indigenous, or otherwise—at the hands of White people. People of Colour have been helpless to change the slavery, murder, and torture they endured.
Think of all the other people—men, women, children, seniors—who have had to do things, become things, or keep quiet due to the use of force and coercion.
In all of these cases we were helpless to change our situation. Too many times, there was no choice but “to just take it.”
Now scroll through thousands of years of the use of force to control and subjugate a population, and you end up with massive quantities of powerlessness. But the thing is that what grows from this particular soil is often anger. And over time, left unhealed, that anger breeds rage.
And this rage is a powder keg, and can often be set off by the tiniest spark.
A squirrel runs into the road as a person is driving their car, forcing the person to slam on their brakes, and the audacity of this animal is the last straw holding that person’s rage in check. They explode.
Someone cuts into the line at the grocery store, feeling entitlement (or perhaps just being rushed or clueless), and that is the last straw for the one who was waiting their turn.
Or, as in 2010, a fruit seller in Tunisia suffers the latest in a long string of oppression and humiliation at the hands of the ruling class, and he—Mohamed Bouazizi—sets himself on fire. The whole country explodes. The catharsis of venting long-held oppression spills over into the neighbouring region, leading to the Arab Spring. helplessness anger, healing powerlessness, energy healing for big emotions, healing powerlessness, reiki helpless
Did Something Just Trigger This?
The energy of the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, was massive. It will represent a massive shift in our collective wellbeing and overall direction. We will feel the effects reverberate for months; that’s how long it will take to settle in. But right now, that enlightened solar energy is pushing to the surface a lot of the helpless rage that we need to deal with, so that we can finally be free, become lighter, and move on from it.
Do you know when you fall on gravel or pavement and scrape your knee? Do you know when a big patch of skin is raw and exposed—how that feels? Can you imagine having that raw patch be scraped on the pavement again and again? That is, to me, how this energy feels. It is so raw.
We are looking for ways to heal it.
And many people are taking it out on others, with the simplest of triggers. helplessness rage, healing helplessness, healing big emotions, energy healing powerlessness, reiki powerless
What To Do: Immediately
So what do we do?
First, if it’s you who is feeling this, then please exercise self-regulation: Do not let out the rage in any way that is unchecked, destructive, or directed at innocents. Chances are good that only the tiniest fraction of what you feel is truly due to the situation of the moment. Almost all of it is from your ancestors.
Therefore, and second, come for a healing with me. Let me tune into your soul, and pull this energy right out of you and your ancestral lineage(s). Let me, over the course of several sessions, heal all the root causes of what led to it. That will make you feel immediately better.
Third, always remember the two Ds: Defuse and De-escalate. If it’s someone else exhibiting behaviour of helpless rage—stomping their feet like a child, crying for attention, or complaining loudly, as some examples—then the worst thing we could do is add fuel to their fire. Instead, remove some of that fuel by listening to them openly; really hear them and let them know that you understand their complaints. Validate them. We all need validation. Provide them with some relief for having vented a little bit of that energy.
If you can find them a valid means to have their concerns addressed, then point them towards resources that are truly helpful and effective.
But then refer them to a healing session—or some form of genuine healing. They cannot carry this toxicity much longer. And the more of us who pull this out of our souls, the more space for peace that we will have created for the collective.
[N.B.: If you encounter someone who feels threatening to you, then please follow your instincts in terms of how to respond. It is not always right for us to interact with others, especially if they are potentially explosive. I am providing here just simple guidance for everyday situations, but it is in no way a comprehensive framework for responding to an enraged person.] helplessness anger, healing powerlessness, energy healing for big emotions, healing powerlessness, reiki helpless
What To Do: Every Day
In our daily lives, there is far more that we can do. In fact, we *must* do it. And the strategy is simple: Do not participate. Do not participate in systems, beliefs, activities, behaviours, and thoughts that perpetuate powerlessness. Quit a job. Leave a relationship. Refuse contact with a family member. Unfollow people and pages on social media. Stop watching a show.
When you refuse to participate, you refuse to perpetuate.
You need to understand this next point: All of the energy that you give to a situation *empowers that situation.* It doesn’t matter if you “aren’t that active,” “don’t really participate,” or whatever excuse might come to mind. You are lending your energy to the suffering of others, and ultimately to the suffering of yourself. Wherever you can, pull your energy out. Starve it.
The more people who refuse to participate in a system, the weaker that system becomes. This allows healthier systems to gain in strength.
If you don’t have the luxury of quitting (a job, a relationship), as many of us don’t, then stay but keep your eyes wide open, and do all that you can to ensure you are not contributing to the toxicity.
Then, what’s important next is that we actively point out the situations that create helplessness. We need to open people’s eyes to see clearly: “Hey, did you realize that when you tell your employees/kids/others what to do, rather than ask them for their ideas, you might be making them feel like they have no power?” It can be as simple as that.
We also need to stand with our fellow humans who are already fighting against all forms of oppression. Whether you need a particular type of freedom or already have its privilege, those are *our* collective freedoms being fought for. We are none of us free until we are all free. And that includes our animals.
As we make these small changes, and more and more people join in, the changes get larger. The systems of oppression break down, and a new world is created.
Finally, turn your mind towards visions of a healthy, empowered, truly free and just world. Envision it. Feel it. Figure out the details of it. Then point your life toward it. And let’s all meet there someday soon. helplessness rage, healing helplessness, healing big emotions, energy healing powerlessness, reiki powerless
Come for a Healing
If I can help you in any way, with the deep soul healing and coaching that I do, I’ll be honoured to work with you. Feel free to start with a complimentary phone consultation, or go ahead and book an appointment. All of my work is trauma sensitive, confidential, and conveniently virtual.
~ Jen
Say thank you by sharing my work, referring someone to me for a healing, leaving a comment to tell me how you were impacted, or buying me a coffee.
helplessness rage, reiki powerless
helplessness rage, healing helplessness, healing big emotions, energy healing powerlessness, reiki powerless
Subscribe to my newsletter and receive $10 off your next appointment; conveniently by phone.
