Resentments: Got Any?

With the emotions that go along with Christmas, the topic of resentments is a good one. For many years in my not too distant past, I came out of the Christmas season with some pretty good resentment.

They didn’t appreciate; I didn’t get; she said; they should have; they did….. to me; they were unthoughtful, I told them I wanted; and the list can go on.

Do any of these things fit with you? This year, because of being mentally ready for the holidays and having a good support system, I am at peace.

Was Christmas perfect? No, but nor did I expect perfection. Did I feel the spirit? Yes. Did I accept the love that was given? I think so. I have looked carefully for any resentment that I am carrying over as they could fester shortly and impede my journey.

I coach for a living, and this came about after a long period of jou
eying and creating a life recovered. I studied coaching techniques and took exams so I could help realise my real life’s purpose. Along the journey, I had a spiritual awakening.

I suffered from the consequences of some addictions that were active many years ago. In beginning my journey, I consulted with the most trusted person in my life, a very well known forensic psychologist that is a very close relative. I’ll never forget her words;”The principals taught through the 12 steps are as good a model for good mental hygiene as I could give ANY person to follow”.

I have found that to be true and incorporate the principles as best I can into my life and my coaching! Resentments carried with us from our past eat people alive. The Co-Creative Process of Life Recovery deals head on with resentments. A great text for millions, and written in the late 1930s, is as true today as it was then, and I offer the following quote (replace alcoholic if the shoe doesn’t fit, understand the truths contained):
“It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while.

But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harbouring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.nn© 2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, page 66”
Powerful stuff, and true not only for alcoholics. People suffer and even die from the resentments they carry. They are a thief of both time and happiness.