Have you ever felt entangled in intense emotions that don’t seem to go away? Have intense emotions such as anger, despair, jealousy, sadness, rage, boredom, or shame kept you stuck from being present in your day-to-day life? Feeling stuck in any heavy emotion can make one feel overwhelmed and helpless. One day I was overcome by the weight of resentment and remorse. The heartache it carried in my chest felt dense and all consuming. I felt stuck and I didn’t know how to release it. On a winter morning, I stared into the crackling fire inside my wood burning stove. Staring into the fire sparked a sense of rage within. Though it felt cathartic. Being close to the flames did not only provide warmth but engaging with its intensity allowed for these intense emotions to morph into a subtle rage.

This very act of staring into the fire inspired me to grab a journal and pen and write. I wrote a letter from the voice of resentment and remorse. I allowed these emotions to pour out onto the paper without any hesitation or doubt. I allowed this part of me to unleash itself from its cage. There was no holding back. When I finished writing, I took a deep breath and threw the letter into the fire. I saw the flames engulf the paper like it was eating away the resentment and alchemizing into ash. A weight lifted off my chest and tears streamed down my face. In that moment, I felt a sense of trust and relief I hadn’t felt in months.

I completed this sacred ritual by writing a letter to the resentment and remorse. I wrote all the ways I subconsciously hung onto these emotional states. How they served to protect me from deeper emotions of rage and grief. I honored them for being wise and fierce teachers, and I told them that I am ready to let them go. When I threw this letter into the flames, I repeated an affirmation: liberate and alchemize these energies. I repeated these words until the paper morphed into ash. I weight had lifted.

Whenever I feel like emotions are stuck, I use this ritual to cleanse and transmute the energies of these emotions. Emotions are famously known as energies in motion. For our emotional wellbeing, it is vital that we learn to transmute stuck emotions. Fire is a very sacred element used in various cultures around the world. For centuries it has been used for alchemy. Implementing this ritual into my life has been truly transformative to my emotional self-development.