Be curious about the fire

Have you ever felt that feeling of a fire in your belly? I think it is universal and yet, our instinct is to put it out.

It is that feeling you get in your gut when you watch something, hear something or read something that is just wrong. It is an immediate reaction and the heat can spread across your whole body and your immediate reaction is ‘this is wrong’.

Without thinking, I think our reaction, our core response, is that we know right from wrong.

Then something happens. It is as if someone turns the hose on and douses the fire. Now continue to be intrigued with me… What is that for you?

For me, it is a result of me working out who I would need to challenge and then feeling intimidated. For you, it could be the feeling of ‘only being you’ or ‘I am just one person’ or it could be that you have not seen anyone challenge and ‘win’.

I have been there and I know that feeling when the fire is put out. I am not speaking from a position of strength, I can assure you that I have put out more fires than I have fuelled in my soul, but I want to listen to that voice more.

But staying quiet costs you - it may feel like it doesn’t but it creates a belief in you, that what is happening is ‘not as bad’ or ‘it will never change’.

There may be a cost to you keeping the fire or even fuelling it but it is important to acknowledge that the fire is there. The fire is there because something is important to you and it is being challenged.

Fire is often understood as only one thing - dangerous. Especially when it comes to justice or the situations I am talking about. But that is only one aspect of it. Fire is dangerous when it is not managed, when it is not watched or the environment is unsafe.

And yet…

Fire brings warmth to cold places.

Fire provides light in the darkness.

Fire cooks and gives things amazing flavour.

Fire can create.

Fire is beautiful.

Do not quench the fire in you because you consider it to be dangerous. Instead, think how you can best manage it and what quality it is bringing to you or the situation you find yourself in.

Be curious about the fire, not afraid of it. It doesn’t mean you have to act on everything necessarily, but it will allow you to start noticing. Things don’t have to be the same as they are if people are getting hurt. You can make a difference to whoever you interact with and you can impact others.

Do not believe the lie that your voice doesn’t matter. Do not collude with the voices in your mind or around you that whisper to you that you cannot make a difference.

For some, that voice is God and to others it is that gut feeling. Either way, take the risk and trust it.

You can be the start of something.

You can be the one to put an end to something unjust.

You can be the person who keeps the fire going.