Lesson:  Expressing vs. Suppressing vs. Channeling resentment

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Questions:

1. Which of the following is a drawback of suppressing resentment?

  • It eliminates conflict.
  • It can create toxic stress.
  • It requires little effort.

Discussion prompts/Journal Exercise:

  • Write about things you already do, or could do, to channel resentment that wouldn’t harm anyone else, for the times when it becomes unavoidable.  
  • Kimberly harbors some deep shame around the way that she feels about the way that she looks in glasses, so she doesn’t wear them unless she absolutely needs to.  However, she needs to be wearing them all the time and since she doesn’t, her eyesight keeps getting worse and worse.  Her parents can’t afford to get her lasik, so what kind of thoughts could she focus on that would be empowering and free herself from this deep shame?
  • What deep shame (or limiting beliefs) might you be hiding from?  Can you think of a way that you could turn your deep shame into a strength, or be able to repair and liberate yourself from it at some point?  If not, can you justify to yourself how it may not actually be all that significant in the grand scheme of things?