resentment | Focus With Marlene

Lay Down the Unwanted Burden of Resentment

Posted June 1, 2022 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

To seek revenge is to want retribution – we want people to pay for what they did. When the injustice is repeated over and over again in our mind, the desire for revenge increases.

The flames of anger, hurt, and betrayal continue to be stoked until we have a raging furnace inside us. We have become a victim.

Resentment and revenge are bitter pills you continue to chew without relief. In today’s blog post and podcast episode, I’m sharing a story story titled, “The Unwanted Package.” The story beautifully illustrates why it’s so important to set down that heavy burden of resentment.

The Cost of Resentment: Becoming a Victim

Posted July 28, 2021 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

woman looking resentful with man in background

When we have suffered injustices, especially in our personal relationships, it is hard to let go and forgive. We struggle with our desire to get retribution or justice versus letting go. Retribution or payback seems so necessary.

Therapists often hear about egregious events that people have endured. Some started early in their childhood. Unprocessed, they keep injecting themselves into our lives and color our attempts at happiness.

In this article, I share one more story from a therapy session that might help you understand the cost of hanging onto resentment.

The Unwanted Package: An Allegory

Posted July 14, 2021 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

young woman carrying heavy bag and walking on path

Once upon a time, a package was delivered to a young woman. When she opened it, her eyes blazed, and she became very angry.

Although infuriated over receiving this parcel, she nonetheless took it with her wherever she went. Soon other packages arrived, and she had to get a larger bag to put them in so she could continue to carry them with her.

Every morning, she dutifully picked up her bag, which was growing heavier and heavier. She took it with her on the bus to work and when she met with the girls for coffee or a glass of wine.

It went with her to family gatherings and remained on her back as she fixed meals and adjusted her load to make the beds and do the laundry.

Turn Your Gravel Pit Into a Beautiful Garden

Posted March 3, 2021 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Can something ugly and scarred be turned into something beautiful and inviting? Let me share with you a true story about a real gravel pit.

A gravel pit is a piece of land where bulldozers and huge earth-scooping machinery have removed the soil to extract gravel and other ingredients needed to build roads, make cement, gather building rocks, etc.

What remains, after all the extractions, is a huge scarred and pitted hole in the ground with unstable and crumbling sides, water seepage from underground springs, stagnant pools of rainwater, huge, discarded pieces of rock and other un-usable mounds of earth. Debris is scattered everywhere, discarded by individuals who consider this a worthless piece of land; a place to throw away their pop cans, beer bottles or candy wrappers.

8 Warning Signs of an Anger Problem

Posted September 30, 2020 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Anger, like all emotions, has a purpose. It is neither bad nor good on its own. When managed and expressed appropriately, it can be an important ally and friend.

The energy that anger creates can help us make important changes. When used as a motivational force it gives us the motivation to change our lives for the better.

Left unchecked, however, it simmers beneath the surface, ready to explode at any moment. Anger then focuses on everything that is and has been going wrong in our lives. It keeps us from seeing anything good.

It is to our benefit to find out how we acquired an angry-aggressive habitual response before it becomes a wildfire that burns everything in its path.

Revenge: The Sweet, Sour and Bitter

Posted September 23, 2020 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

“How dare she!”

“That was mean!”

“That’s it – it’s over.”

“How could he do that to me?”

Someone has wronged us or betrayed us. Anger rises. It simmers in our thoughts as we contemplate our revenge: “Just wait; I’ll get even with you.”

And we repeat to ourselves over and over the injustice of the situation, of how we were treated and why we didn’t deserve it.

What felt like a kick in the stomach the first time is repeatedly replayed as we continue to stoke the flames of anger, hurt, and betrayal until we have a raging furnace inside of us – our stomach churning into hard knots, chilling our bones.

Acceptance Reduces Conflict

Posted September 16, 2020 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Acceptance is a concept – a state of mind – a way of looking at life and problems. It is a way of thinking that can be applied to any circumstance. It is a pivotal point that takes us from what we can’t do to possibilities, options and choices.

Problems have a magnetic way of holding us in place. Like an insect caught on fly paper, we get stuck in the mess of it all and can’t see a way out.

Acceptance takes us out of the victim role and puts us in the administrator role.

It keeps us from playing the blame game where everything – from circumstances to people, parents, siblings, religion, God, whatever – are blamed for our inability to do anything.

Acceptance puts us in control of our responses regardless of what life throws at us.

Stress Reducer: Acceptance

Posted September 9, 2020 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Acceptance is a necessary step in helping us recover from losses.

When we accept our circumstances, their formidable impact on our life is reduced while helping us find ways to reconcile and heal.

In many ways, we are addressing stressful events every day. We acknowledge, accept, look for options and work to find solutions instead of allowing them to create ongoing turmoil. Because acceptance is such an important concept, I want to expand on how it can help us lower stress levels in our daily lives.

We are currently living in uncommon stressful times: the pandemic, inability to go back to work; wondering whether our kids can go back to school, whether we will have enough money to pay our bills or if life will ever return to normal. Add to that the emotional stress that is generated as we try to communicate and work together to solve the escalating problems we face.

Personalized Stress: The Stress we Create

Posted August 19, 2020 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

We will experience stress every day. That is normal and natural. For example:

You’ve been asked to work overtime – again. The bus was late, you arrive home to kids fighting and an irritated spouse, the kitchen is a mess and you just want to throw up your hands and scream.

That is a pretty normal reaction to a string of events that were frustrating and exasperating. Who wouldn’t want to throw up their hands and scream?

However, when we remain in that agitated state, the original stress is compounded. We need our jobs, we want to have good times with our families, and we know we can adapt, but how do we keep the accumulation of expectations and demands from overwhelming us?

Forgiveness: A Gift We Give Ourselves

Posted April 8, 2020 by Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

7 ways we can make forgiveness a gift rather than an obligation

As we approach Easter in a few days, we are reminded that Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice for our sins by dying on the cross, offering forgiveness and grace.

Jesus said forgive seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22). We take it as a moral imperative. But it isn’t just Jesus who tells us how important forgiveness is; science confirms it as well. In fact, not to forgive is putting a slow death sentence on ourselves, as the theologian, Frederick Buechner, so aptly describes.

Most of us deal with the sins and transgressions of others in the moment. We get mad, pull away, and then make up and go on. When we are the transgressors, we do the same. With minor goofs and slip-ups, we feel bad in the moment, apologize and then move on.

Posts Tagged: resentment