Resentment keeps us trapped.
There is plenty going on to annoy us on a daily basis. Rude or inconsiderate people, weird or unpleasant weather, political and/or social turmoil, our own foibles are a few, and that likely is just scratching the surface.
We know resentment doesn’t feel good. But sometimes it is so very hard to let go of it.
We may feel we’re justified in being irked, particularly if we believe someone has treated us poorly. It can seem as if letting go of our anger somehow exonerates the other person.
This is where it can be helpful to separate our reactions from the other’s actions or inactions. We cannot control what others do or don’t do, but we can control our own choices. And our choices do include the emotions we persist.
When we stay in a stew of resentment, we poison whatever is going on in the present with emotions about what has occurred in the past. Because everything happening to us in the now is tinged with this annoyance—even if we’re only holding on to the emotion at a subsurface level—we’re likely to attract more irksome events in the future because that’s where our energetic focus is.
Today’s message asks me to consider clearing my emotional decks when I feel resentful. Does the annoying occurrence warrant me making myself unhappy? Is there anything practical I can do to prevent a similar annoying situation in the future? If resentment occurs in my life with some regularity, what underlying beliefs do I hold that it might benefit me to tweak? The less I resent, the more satisfied I am with life.
Please reflect and share? How do you let resentment steal your joy?