Someone wronged you. You feel hurt, bruised, and totally justified to hold onto anger. You’ve been treated with disrespect, ripped off, cheated, stepped on. You’re normal to crave justice.

There is a myriad of reasons we can feel wronged, some big and others small. It can be especially difficult to let go of anger if someone has hurt someone we love or someone unable to defend themselves. Whatever the reason, unforgiveness can feel like a gaping wound, a cut that won’t heal. When we wake up, we think about it. When we lay our heads on our pillows at night, we think about it. When happy moments present themselves, our happiness is tainted with anger, hurt, angst. Our anger may feel inescapable.

Have you been there? Most of us can relate to this feeling. But unfortunately, it punishes us more than it punishes the perpetrator. What we want our angst to accomplish is futile and we end up hurting ourselves.