Awareness: Resentments

Aware Of Our Resentments

Resentments are those false narratives that are deeply rooted in the mind of an addict. They will twist our minds up to the point of us not being able to discern between whats real and whats fake. If we allow these resentments to travel too far, then we can start acting out in self pity, murmuring, and even saying things to others that are hurtful.

Resentments will ruin our spiritual condition more than anything else. When one is caught in a resentment attack, the mind becomes so bothered and irritated at the past or present acts of others that we start building out over the top scenarios and assumptions in our minds. This madness and contention leads us to being locked away in our minds, which leads us to CRAVING an escape through a substance. People who are locked up crave an escape right?

Here are some ideas:

      1. Watch what gossip circles you spend time in, and don’t be a complainer and a comparer (quit reading minds); these are practices that will feed the resentment mind frame—the HOPELESS mind frame.

      2. It isn’t good to be competitive towards others, where we want them to fail so that we might have the opportunity to say “I told you so” —this isn’t a good way to be.

      3. Our ultimate HOPE should be for thoughts of gratitude and helpfulness to be taking up space in our minds so that we can escape our resentments. Again, we need our spiritual condition to remain high if we are to remain sober! Period!

      4. We can change our thoughts; after all, they are just thoughts. Use positive affirmations to change your thoughts. A good book to try: You Can Heal Your Life by Louis Hay

Aware Of A Way Out Of Resentments

We get blinded by these resentment lights. Prayer, reading, and jogging are three practices that can help us to straighten our mind frame out. Jogging in a beautiful setting while listening to good sounding music can lift our thoughts just enough to allow prayer and gratitude to develop. And then those thoughts of madness towards others and ourselves will be enveloped in thoughts of charity. Why would this work? Have you ever tried getting rid of resentments in a similar way?

Here are some ideas:

      1. Experience music that edifies.

      2. Go create a spiritual experience that involves jogging, hiking, walking, and scenery.

      3. Go train in a gym. Don’t be afraid to turn up the intensity. Work on gratitude and prayer afterwards.

      4. Work on prayer the entire way (gratitude, positive affirmations, higher power)

      5. Read and listen to audiobooks (self help books, the big book, scripture study, speaker talks, podcasts)

      6. Do mirror work / positive affirmations. Talk to yourself in a positive way. If you are mad at someone—say how much they love and care for you, even if you don’t feel that way. Saying it out loud works.


Dustin Hawkins