Is Resentment Causing Anger In Your Life?

As a Denver anger management counselor people often tell me they want to know the main reason they can’t seem to let go of anger.

I believe that one of the biggest reasons people can’t release their anger is because of pain and resentment.

At some point in your life you’ve probably been hurt by someone. Perhaps it’s something someone said about you, or it could be an action that affected you personally.

If you’re struggling with anger you need to consider how resentment is affecting your life.

What Is Resentment?

How do you know when you resent someone? Resentment is the feeling that something wrong was done to you. If you feel like there’s an injustice in the world it can easily leave you feeling resentful.

Resentment feels like a natural response to being hurt by someone. People often say things like “I’m never going to let that person hurt me again” or “I’ll never forget what she did to hurt me.”

At times it’s easy to overlook resentment. Sometimes it’s caused by years of painful words or actions that never got resolved.

The problem with having resentment is that you’re the one who continues to feel hurt. Holding onto your pain won’t affect the other person in any way. It’s only going to add to your negative feelings.

Letting Go Of Resentment Will Reduce Your Anger

If your goal is to reduce the anger in your life you will probably need to deal with the pain in your past. Emotional pain is often the cause of anger. Resentment is the act of holding onto that pain in your life.

Your body has an amazing ability to heal itself. When you cut your hand your body goes to work to heal itself. You wouldn’t intentionally keep keep that wound open. Resentment is like keeping an open wound in your emotions. 

When your holding onto resentment you’re preventing your emotions and your mind from healing. Your holding onto emotional pain in your life.

Choosing to let go of emotional pain will put you on the path to changing your anger.

Forgiveness Is The Key To Dealing With Resentment

Dealing with resentment and emotional pain requires forgiveness. Forgiving someone for the pain they’ve caused you allows your emotions to heal.

It’s not east to practice forgiveness. It requires emotional and mental work to forgive someone and allow your emotions heal.

The reward for learning how to forgive is having the ability to release your resentment and experience the joy and freedom to let go of your anger.

Check out this link for more resources on how to improve your mental and emotional wellness.