The Harm In 'HATE'

Many of us express this emotion regularly without even thinking. We often use this negative word several times a day without any forethought or afterthought regarding the consequences. We adopt a stern facial expression, lower our eyelids and even flare our nostrils, injecting venom in our voice as we declare aloud how much we really hate him! her! them! that! or it! We use the word ‘hate’ as an expression of our utter disdain for someone, something or a situation in proud justification of this fact, but who does our hate actually affect?

Quite often the aim of our hatred has absolutely no idea of our deep rooted ill feelings. If our hatred is directed towards another person, we have probably shown this by behaving very uncomfortably around them and even unknowingly omitted distasteful vibes in their presence. There is also a strong possibility that they may have even picked up on our negative energy and body language, but unless we have actually had the audacity to vocalise our hatred for them to their face, they would generally be completely unaware.

Sadly there can be an emotional, mental and even physical price to pay for our outpouring of hatred, with both a short and long term cost being paid by the hater. Having these ugly and damaging feelings dwelling within us causes a chemical reaction in our minds, which is also transmitted to our hearts and spirit. Our heart rate and blood pressure increases, our stress levels soar and our health is the ultimate price we pay every time we hate. Just thinking hateful thoughts about another person is inflicting a great deal of harm to ourselves. Even if the person we are hating is fully aware of the venom directed at them, this will not actually cause them any substantial short term and almost no long term harm whatsoever - unless they choose to embrace the negativity - because the emotion of hate was not developed from within them.

Anything from outside of our mind and heart can only affect us physically if we entertain it and allow it to. Any thought, opinion or comment aimed at us from some external source can be successfully blocked or diverted elsewhere, once we realise that someone else’s thoughts about us really are only just that…their own thoughts. Even if we acknowledge how we may have played any part in the reasoning behind the hate aimed in our direction - whether intentionally or not - how someone else feels and behaves where we are concerned we are simply not able to control, and therefore their feelings towards us is none of our business us unless we choose to get involved.

There is nothing wrong with having a ‘dislike’ for someone or something. Not liking is a far less mentally draining, less physically impactful and a much calmer way to express our discomfort than ‘hate’. The emotion of not liking someone does not carry the same negative energy inside our body as hate, it is a natural and much healthier way to openly express ourselves, without having or feeling the need to defend or explain ourselves to others.

In this universe of ‘Yin Yang’ law, basically any hate for another is often a consequence of underlying love. This is usually a subconscious expression of our hidden desire to actually be exactly like the person whom we are hating, have something which they may have, or achieve a position in our life which they seem to have obtained. There are times where we are fully aware that we are actually in admiration of the other person to the point of jealousy, but rather than be honest with both ourselves and others, we falsely believe it is easier to hide this truth behind the lazy excuse of the mask of hate.

So the next time we are about to waste our vital oxygen, our powerful brain cells and unnecessarily deploy our cortisol hormones, we should remember how this small four letter word can cause nothing but great pain both internally and externally to the owner alone.

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