I have always, to my knowledge, been interested in discovering / uncovering emotions, their meaning, their function and fascinated by the whole process of getting to know oneself better, day after day. I have also long known that anger – like fear, sadness and joy –  is an emotion and that as such, it brings us information about our unmet needs and about the situation we find ourselves in. It is therefore important to listen to it. Unfortunately, it has a bad press in some circles. Resentment, that I view as stiffened anger,  is even more frowned upon. Writing haiku about resentment, I recently started to think about it in a new light.

Resentment – Stiffened

Anger – protects persona

Vulnerable core

Resentment hinders

Psyche annihilation

Until trauma heals

What I understand now:

Some barriers are vital. Having written these two haikus, my lingering resentment about my childhood hurts appears in a new light: it has actually provided protection until now, when it has become safe for me to do without it, in this new phase of healing in my life.