Is the Forest Angry—or Just Misunderstood?

A Reflection on Anger, the Wood Element, and What Truly Matters

We just got back from a big family trip to Disney World—fifteen of us total.
If you’ve ever traveled in a group that size, you already know: things get magical, messy, loud, beautiful, and complicated.

Somewhere in the swirl of rides and meal plans and “where are we meeting next?”, I felt a wave of anger. I won’t go into the details (they don’t matter much now—it’s all been resolved), but in the moment, I felt ignored. Disrespected. That deep, old fire lit up in me.

I talked to my brother about it. He’s steady and diplomatic, the kind of person who can stay calm in just about any storm. As I was venting, he listened and then said gently, “You know, when you're angry, the only one you hurt is yourself.”

I’ve heard versions of that line before. It’s something people say when they want to remind you to rise above it. To let it go. And sometimes that’s exactly what we need to hear.

But this time, something in me pushed back.
Is that completely true?

I mean, yes—anger can eat us alive from the inside out if we never let it move. It can fester. It can grow sharp edges and hurt the people we love if we don’t check it. But to say that the only person it hurts is ourselves? I’m not so sure.

Because sometimes, anger isn’t just a fire—it’s a flare. A signal. A messenger trying to say:
“Hey! Something important just happened. A boundary was crossed. A value was violated. Something in me needs to be seen.”

And in that moment at Disney World, that’s exactly what it felt like.
Not just irritation, not a bad mood, not hangry. It was ancient. Rooted.
It felt like a forest waking up.

Have you ever felt that?

Like you were just standing there, minding your own emotional business, and suddenly—BOOM—something cracks and creaks inside, and a towering old tree within you shifts its weight and turns to face the moment?

It’s easy to judge that feeling. To label it as bad. But what if it’s sacred?

What if, instead of asking “How do I get rid of this anger?”—we asked:

“What part of me just woke up?”
“What is this anger trying to protect?”
“What does this moment say about what I truly value?”

That question—Is the forest angry, or just misunderstood?—keeps echoing through my mind.

In the Home Compass program, April is the month we study the Wood Element. It lives in the left middle part of your home—the place we associate with growth, learning, and inner direction. It’s where we store our books, our tools for self-improvement, and often the projects we’ve been meaning to finish for far too long.

Emotionally, the Wood Element holds our vision, our drive, our need to grow—and our anger. Not the kind that burns everything down, but the kind that builds up when we feel blocked, unseen, or out of alignment with our purpose.

People who are Wood-dominant in their energy (and I count myself among them!) are often described as “Type A.”
You know the type:

• Goal-oriented

• Driven

• Easily frustrated when things don’t go as planned

• Passionate about doing things well

• Hard on themselves when they fall short

What people often miss is how much pressure lives inside a Wood person.
We see the path.
We feel the potential.
We carry a kind of inner blueprint for how things should go.
And when something knocks us off that path—even something small like a comment or a moment of being dismissed—it can feel like we’ve lost our direction entirely.

That’s the anger. But underneath the anger?
There’s almost always something softer. Something more tender.
A value. A vision. A desire to do something meaningful.

We see this pattern show up all over our stories and myths.

Forests and trees are often portrayed as ancient, powerful, and deeply emotional beings—especially when they’re angry.

Think about the Ents in The Lord of the Rings. These tree beings are slow to wake, slow to speak, and even slower to act… until they witness the destruction of their forest. Then, the storm breaks. Their fury is unstoppable. Their anger becomes action, and that action is rooted in love for what they’re here to protect.

Or take the corrupted Wood in Uprooted by Naomi Novik—a forest poisoned by trauma, lashing out in confusion and defense. Or the boar god in Princess Mononoke, who turns into a writhing mass of pain and destruction after being shot. These forests and spirits aren’t evil. They’re just wounded and full of grief. Their rage is what we see on the surface—but it’s not the whole story.

Even the trees in The Wizard of Oz get mad when someone tries to take something without asking. And the Forest Spirit in Avatar (Eywa) doesn’t intervene until the natural balance is disrupted.

In story after story, the angry forest is not random.
It’s responsive.
It gets angry when something sacred is threatened.
It defends what matters.
It doesn’t always speak in words—it speaks in storms, in shadows, in movement.

Which… if we’re being honest… is kind of how human anger works, too.

In that moment back at Disney, what really mattered to me was simple:
I wanted someone to listen.
To understand me.
To stay in the conversation with me instead of brushing it off.

And once I felt that—once I felt seen—the anger could settle. It had done its job.
It had reminded me of what I value most: connection, presence, and being heard.

So maybe the forest inside us isn’t angry just to be angry.
Maybe it’s trying to protect something.
Maybe it’s trying to guide us back to what we care about most.

The Wood Element doesn’t want to destroy—it wants to grow.
It wants direction.
It wants a clear path forward.
And sometimes, it uses anger like a trail marker: Pay attention here. This part matters.

So instead of fearing our anger—or trying to stuff it down—we can begin to listen to it.

Reflection Questions for Your Inner Forest

(Especially helpful if you’re working in your Wood section this month)

🌳 If the forest inside me could speak, what would it be angry about?
🌿 What sacred thing am I protecting with my anger?
🌳 What injustice, grief, or boundary violation have I buried?
🌿 What “growth” wants to happen, but I’ve been holding it back?

Let your answers surprise you. Let your inner trees rustle.
And when you're ready—step into the clearing.

Call to Action

If this resonates with you, we’re exploring the Wood Element all month inside the Home Compass program—clearing space for growth, working with anger in a meaningful way, and setting up your Wood section to support your next steps.

You don’t have to do it alone.
Come grow with us.

👉 Learn more or join here