Lesson 2: Letting Go of Anger
You were wronged—badly wronged. (At some point, haven't we all been?) But holding on to that rage means allowing the past to define your present.
I watched this episode Tuesday night and just kept hearing that voice telling me what situation/anger I needed to let go of. But I couldn't imagine how I could let go of the anger about the past because this person has returned to those behaviors that hurt me so long ago. As Oprah talked about her own forgiveness and how she had felt forgiveness meant that she had to be OK with it but that forgiveness is really "Giving up the hope that the past can be different."
You were wronged—badly wronged. (At some point, haven't we all been?) But holding on to that rage means allowing the past to define your present.
I watched this episode Tuesday night and just kept hearing that voice telling me what situation/anger I needed to let go of. But I couldn't imagine how I could let go of the anger about the past because this person has returned to those behaviors that hurt me so long ago. As Oprah talked about her own forgiveness and how she had felt forgiveness meant that she had to be OK with it but that forgiveness is really "Giving up the hope that the past can be different."
"You can accept or reject the way you are treated by other people, but until you heal the wounds of your past, you will continue to bleed. You can bandage the bleeding with food, with alcohol, with drugs, with work, with cigarettes, with sex, but eventually, it will all ooze through and stain your life. You must find the strength to open the wounds, stick your hands inside, pull out the core of the pain that is holding you in your past, the memories, and make peace with them." —Iyanla Vanzant
Photo: © George Burns/Harpo Inc.
The thing about bitterness and anger is that the one that it hurts is the holder. Rarely, if ever, is the offender actually affected by them.
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