Cheryl: The news reports this morning show a peaceful protest in Washington, D.C. turning aggressive. I have come to believe what you say about aggression not stopping aggression. What does?

Higg(in)s: Peace. Peaceful humor. Peaceful words. Peaceful acceptance of differences. Peaceful agreeable-ness. Peaceful hope. Peaceable attitude.

Cheryl: You do say that sometimes an emotion is too far from our current emotion to be accessible. Is that what is going on here, between Israel and Palestine? Between the demonstrators and whatever it is they are fighting?

Higg(in)s: Very astute of you to grasp this. If you will maintain yourself as a harbor for peace, that which is not peace will move away from you. If it can’t move away, it will fight sort of like a cornered animal. (That is what you are experiencing at work. *) The other person has to bring you into their emotional control so that they can feel better.

In this peaceful protest turned aggressive what you are seeing is people who have become disoriented. They do not realize that their aggression is the same aggression that they claim to be protesting. The solution is for those of you who do remain centered, your emotional compass rests where North is Peace, to start a new conversation. Talk about peaceful resolutions in your own home. You don’t have to fix anything else, just talk about, and initiate, peace and peaceful resolutions in your own lives. This will create opportunity for those who can, to shift just a little, then a little more. It is like turning a car around in a tight space. You must make multiple forward and back motions with a little turn at a time. These who are fighting, these who protest aggressively, these people cannot make an about turn. It can’t happen. It is the equivalent of cornering an animal. You have to provide an environment where they can make a little bit of a mental shift at a time.

*Note: See posts from November 13, 14, 15, 2023 regarding Higg(n)s responses to my adventures with a difficult coworker.