Oct 13, 2011

Oprah's Lifeclass Lesson 2:Letting Go of Anger #OprahsLifeclass

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." 

Photo: © George Burns/Harpo Inc.
"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

This quote speaks so much to me as I know that I try to heal past hurts with food.  I am only hurting myself by holding on to these past (and present) hurts.  That I can let go of it without having to be OK with it.  I need to forgive myself for all the ways I blame myself for what has happened and what continues to happen.  I need to forgive myself for not being able to fix it and realize I can simply not control the choices other people make.  

Do you have anger you need to let go of?

1 comment:

  1. 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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