Have you ever found yourself a prisoner of your own hatred or anger?

Question

Do you feel that the only way to free yourself, regardless of your faith or belief, is to forgive and let go?

Answer 1

Yes, many years ago I carried anger and hatred like a basket with handles. Once I learned to forgive, especially forgive myself, I learned to love for the simple joy of loving. My life has expanded in so many ways.

Blessings )O(

Answer 2

I don't believe that forgiveness is a total religion thing. Regardless of what your faith is forgiveness is in all of us if we know where to look and are brave enough to try it. It's scary sometimes to let go of your anger. Anger can be a way of self medicating. It can also be used as an excuse for not making your self better. A forgiving person IMO is a brave person.

I carried around a lot of anger.Something happened to me when I was little and for years it was all I could focus on. It dictated my life, my goals and relationships. I finally had to let it go. The scary part was for the first time learning how to deal with me.....just me. But I did it and got through it and am better for it.

Answer 3

Yes, I have. It's horrible. I mistakenly thought that my anger and hate was making the other person pay for what she did. She may have been hurt by my behavior, but she did not have to carry my burden of anger and hate around with her every second of the day. I realized I was only hurting myself. I was trapped by my anger. It followed me everywhere and affected everything I did throughout my day. It was with me when I went to bed at night. I could not escape from it, and I honestly didn't want to until I realized how much it was hurting me and my family.
Forgiving and letting go is the only way to get free from anger and hatred and is something I'm still working on. It is not easy to forgive and let go, but I don't see any other way to get rid of anger and hatred. I can't just ignore my anger and hatred because every day that I hang on to it, I find that it just grows stronger and more evil. Anger and hatred are like living things that grow as you feed them. As I forgive, I decide that I will not hold something against someone anymore. If you are not hanging on to anger, it can no longer hurt and imprison you. My feelings may not change right away, but they will in time as I heal.

Answer 4

For a very long time I was the victim of my own anger. I was a terribly destructive force to myself and all that were around me. I hated God and cursed God in every religion that I could find that would tell me what an affront to God was. This of course was self hatred.

When I learned to forgive myself I was able to let go and forgive others as well. It took many long years of study, prayer and meditation. This is why I believe what I believe so strongly. It not only saved my life (I attempted suicide and planned to do it again), it made life a joy to live instead of a struggle of suffering and pain.

“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”
Buddha

Answer 5

I think we all have hated ourselves for hating others before, since anger is one of the 6 basic emotions, and we are all born with it.
For me, the most practical thing to do in an anger producing situation is always to get away from the source of the anger, usually a person.
If that isn't possible, I just stop acting and thinking altogether, (time permitting) stopping the body's hormonal reaction as quickly as possible, taking deep breaths in the process.
After calming myself down at least a little bit, this is where my faith comes in, making me think, Is God satisfied with me right now?
Of course I am a hypocrite for saying these things here since I usually fail terribly to apply them to my real life, but it matters more if we try than if we succeed or fail.

Answer 6

Regardless of your beliefs...sometimes it does no good to hold on to something. You can actually feel liberated to forgive and let go..knowing that what hurts or angers you no longer has power over you.

Whether you choose to let it go or put it in someone elses hands (your higher power) that makes you stronger I think.

Answer 7

I have been in that situation before. As for forgiving and letting go, well... it was easy to think those things. It was totally different to change the way I looked at it and dealt with it, since I came in contact with it every day. Growing out of old habits like that are easier said than done.

Answer 8

Yes. My step-dad treated me like crap 60% of the time and I took some serious physical punishment very frequently and mental intimidation more often than that. Sometimes I got beat for things I didn't even do. Often, I would get a whipping for something my older brother did just to make sure that I wouldn't do the same thing he did. Just to make a point, when I got a whipping, he didn't stop until HE had enough. I'm over 40 years old now and still harbor anger and animosity against him. It shows in ALMOST everything I do, except for how I raise MY children. It ticks off my wife to no end because she can see him so much in the many things I do. But I came to realize JUST LAST WEEK that I was still trying to please a man who has been dead over ten years. I have already forgiven him in my heart, but it's really hard to shake off that hatred I have felt for him for so long. It has been like living in my own prison for most of my adult life. Even though times went by where I didn't even communicate with him for over two years or more, I would find myself alone, in my house, on my knees with my hands gripping my lowered head in anguish trying get the thoughts and actions out of my head that he had emblazoned on my brain. I still feel that way sometimes. When he died of cancer, I felt no sympathy whatsoever. I fact, I was the only one at his memorial that wasn't mournig, in fact, my heart felt uplifted. BUT, after the graveside service when nobody was left but my wife and I, I ALONE buried him with a shovel. Every last scoop of earth. I figured that for the eighteen years I lived under his roof, he did feed me, put a roof over my head and clothed me for the most part. I figured that by burying him myself, it was the least I could do to thank him for that. Had it not been for my mom, I never would have attended that service. Now I'm doing a better job of dealing with my past. But it's really hard to forget the many times I was reprimanded unjustly.

Answer 9

Yes. Anger and hatred are the way of the dark side. Dealing with anger, and controlling it is a virtue. Hatred is everywhere.

Answer 10

i am a prisoner of my love. Its far worse. Hatred and anger can be worked off through violence or sport. Love hurts more when you can't have it for undisclosed reasons.

perhaps the Light himself didn't want Me to lose my head over her.