How To Deal With Hatred and Anger In Your Heart
Jan 16, 2023
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was quoted as saying "darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Do you hate or harbor anger and resentment toward your toxic ex?
Do you hate or harbor anger and resentment toward your toxic ex?
Do you hate yourself and endlessly judge your past mistakes?
What does it mean to love your enemy? What’s the benefit?
Consider this: while there may be what many would consider true evil in the world, most people are doing the best they know how based on their current level of awareness and perception.
It’s been said that “hurt people hurt people”; even when we humans do things that hurt others, on some level we are hurting, and we think that our actions will bring us closer to peace.
When we perceive ourselves as weak, broken, or unworthy, we can sometimes punish ourselves with negative self-talk.
Most people, when their heads are clear, don’t do things to intentionally hurt themselves or others. When their actions are selfish and inconsiderate, it’s usually because of ingrained patterns of narrow self-preservation.
So what does it mean to love your enemy?
It’s not about tolerating bad or hurtful behavior.
It’s not about keeping quiet for the sake of keeping the peace.
I believe it’s more about accepting the fact that we will each be called to answer for our own trespasses.
I believe that some day, we’ll have the opportunity to see and feel how our actions affected others, from the perspective of those we affected.
So loving our enemy as ourselves comes down to a simple idea:
Forgiveness.
Again, this is not about justifying their behavior or saying it’s okay to do wrong to others. It’s not even about telling them you forgive them!
Forgiveness is the key to setting ourselves free from the pain of the past.
It’s looking for the blessing in the lesson, and deciding we can choose differently for ourselves, regardless of what’s been done to us in the past.
It’s about being our own source of peace and love, so we don’t need to take revenge or have the last word.
Yes, we must act to preserve our own safety when we’re threatened.
But the moment the danger has passed, the best thing we can do is forgive and move on. Because hate, anger, bitterness and resentment is a poison we drink, hoping the other person will die.
There is love in forgiveness. Therefore, we can meet hate with love, and darkness with light. By doing this, not only do we improve ourselves, but we also improve the world around us.
