​Do Yourself A Favor

Today I opened Holy Wow! Volume III… The HazMat Variety Show… to page 54. “When you are human… you must be strong… resolved. ‘I will not be consumed by bitterness.’ You must not allow grudgement, resentment, vengeance to twist your Life. You must not let bitterness win.”
 
This is a substantial decision you make inside yourself. A choice. Choosing to release yourself from bitterness is your inner work. 
 
Sometimes it’s easy to think… “I’m going to hold on to this bitterness, by golly. That’ll show him!” (Or “them” or “her.”) Holding onto anger, annoyance, feeling slighted… is not the ally it wants you to think it is.
 
Cutting right to the chase… the only person your inner bitterness hurts is you. 
 
Keeping that bitterness churning inside… making sure your resentment and distress are well-nourished… only fortifies your suffering. Generating self-inflicted obstacles. Self-inflicted pain.
 
Another person may have triggered your initial upset… but you keeping your distress alive and well in your gut, in your thoughts, in your inner Life… is you inflicting pain on you. The harsh clamp bitterness has on you poisons your inner environment. Making where you live inside yourself sour… acidic… unpleasant.
 
At this point… it has very little to do with the “other person.” The only person who can release yourself from your distress is you. 
 
Be kind to yourself. Assert self-compassion. Do yourself a favor. Let it go. Jump off the inner-torment merry-go-round. Release yourself from self-imposed distress.