According to psychologists, there are six basic human emotions that all of us experience in various forms throughout our lives: fear, anger, joy, sadness, disgust, and surprise.
Of those six emotions, anger might just be the most multifaceted, ranging from annoyance to outrage to resentment and bitterness. The latter often stems from unvoiced anger or frustration. When left to simmer, it can bear the seeds of any number of other negative emotions — sadness, disgust, fear, etc.
So how do we prevent anger from manifesting into resentment or bitterness? We can start by acknowledging our anger, either voicing and dealing with the issues that make us feel frustrated or choosing to let go and move on with our lives. Of course, this is easier said than done; learning to recognize and manage our emotions is a lifelong educational process.
But at the very least, these 12 quotes can help serve as reminders not to let our grievances weigh us — or our loved ones — down.
Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.Iain S. Thomas
I can become quite angry and burning in anger, but I have never been bitter. Bitterness is a corrosive, terrible acid. It just eats you and makes you sick.Maya Angelou
Bitterness and resentment only hurt one person, and it’s not the person we’re resenting — it’s us.Alana Stewart
Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear; only love can do that. Hatred paralyzes life; love harmonies it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.Martin Luther King Jr.
Don’t allow your wounds to transform you into someone you are not.Paulo Coelho
Don’t be so bitter about a bad experience from your past that you miss the opportunities in front of you.Robert Kiyosaki
Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. Bitterness paralyzes life; love empowers it. Bitterness sours life; love sweetens it. Bitterness sickens life; love heals it. Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes.Harry Emerson Fosdick
Hurt gives way to bitterness, bitterness to anger. Travel too far that road and the way is lost.Terry Brooks
If I thought about it, I could be bitter, but I don’t feel like being bitter. Being bitter makes you immobile, and there’s too much that I still want to do.Richard Pryor
Some turn to the past to strengthen them for a brighter future, and some succumb to the rage and blame, not realizing that anger without action leaves us bitter and not better!T.D. Jakes
Imprisonment of the body is bitter; imprisonment of the mind is worse.Thornton Wilder
Bitterness only consumes the vessel that contains it.Rubin Carter
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