Anger presented itself to me through my relationship with my mother. My relationship with her is my greatest source of spiritual growth. Not because either of us are particularly virtuous. But because my mother is able to provoke me in ways no other being is able to.

Each provocation has provided me an opportunity: To choose actions that keep me entrenched in corrosive patterns, or actions that guide me towards becoming freer.

I grew up in the Catholic Church but never felt connected to God beyond as a concept studied in Sunday school.

As I left the church, I also left the idea of faith to the realms of organized religions. I didn’t consider myself a person of faith as I didn’t subscribe to any explicit religious or spiritual deity, force, or institution.

This changed through my recent trip to Korea.