Forgiveness: Reasons Letting Go of Grudges and Bitterness

“Holding a grudge is like drinking poison is waiting for the other person to die.” -Buddha

Everyone goes through this at some point in their life.  They believe that they have been wronged, slandered, cheated, lied to and so on.  And the natural response to this feeling of being wronged is to hold a grudge.  Everyone has held a grudge at some point in their life and they work to justify this grudge so they can continue to hold onto the grudge or letting go of grudges.

Just like Buddha said in letting go of grudges quotes, you cannot drink poison and expect the other person to die.  Holding onto grudges can have more of negative impact on your life than you realize than letting go of grudges.  And most of the time the person you are holding the grudge against has no idea you are even mad at them.

So here are three reasons why you should letting go of grudges:

1. It takes more energy than it is worth

In order to hold onto our grudge, you have to continuously run through that negative interaction over and over again and these negative emotions are much worse when you see that person.  You begin to focus on what they did, what they should have done afterword, and how they went about handling the situation.  And when you see the person, you will replay that negative emotion more vividly than you were before you saw them.

And to be quite frank, it is a lot of work letting go of a grudge! Have you thought about what you are gaining from holding the grudge? Are they learning a valuable lesson? Probably not.  And your life is too short and too valuable to waste any energy on this person that wronged you.  You must letting go of grudges and live your life.  Or you will get stuck in the repetition of being upset and frustrated and waste your energy.

2. You are only sabotaging your own happiness

If you are holding one grudge, chances are you are holding several grudges toward various people and events – and have been for quite some time.  How can you enjoy your life when your focus is always on how much those people have wronged you? Instead of focusing on what they did to wrong you, take a step back and focus on all of the positive things you have.

If your grudge is toward an old friend that wronged you, focus on the friends that you have that value and love you.  If it is against a family member, take a step back and consider if this grudge is warranted.  You have positive things that you should be focusing on instead of expending all of that energy on the negative things.  That negativity not only will bring you down, but will cause you great amounts of stress the longer you hold onto that grudge.  And you deserve so much more than to be focused on the negative so letting go of grudges is the best way.

3. Your life will become small

When you hold grudges against people, you are quickly going to limit who you interact with, where you will go and what you will try.  Holding a grudge does not make you feel better, it actually makes you feel worse.  Instead of putting the burden on the other person to be responsible for what they did, you are putting all of the pressure on yourself.  And when you hold a grudge, it can create issues between relationships because your friends feel like they are in an awkward position and over time they will begin to distance themselves from you.  No one likes to be around someone holding a grudge so letting go of grudges in order to make your life good.

Do not allow your grudges to sabotage the relationships you have, limit your interaction and take up your most valuable resources – your mind and your time.

No matter what your circumstances, holding onto a grudge does nothing more than hurt you and those around you.  If you do not allow yourself the opportunity to move forward from the incident, you will quickly realize that your grudge consumes your time and your energy.  And what an awful waste of your time.

Here is one of the amazing quotes about letting go of grudges.

 “Holding a grudge is like letting someone live rent free in your head!” -Unknown