Beware Resentment: How Repressed Feelings Fuel Hidden Powerlessness

Beware resentment.

The word “resentment” originates from the Latin-French, “re-sentir”, which literally means to “feel again”.

If you’re resentful, it’s a sure sign that you’re “over-feeling” – which is the flip side of “over-thinking”.

Say, for example, that you resent someone at work who regularly interrupts you or speaks over you.

First you feel angry or annoyed. If you repress this anger or annoyance, you will re-experience it (“feel again”), and this will snowball into either outrage or shame.

If you repress your outrage or shame, you will re-experience it (“feel again”), and only then will you begin to feel resentful.

We repress feelings when we feel inadequate or powerless.

In other words, resentment is nothing more than our inferiority complex in disguise.

The solution?

You are never powerless. Politely express, don’t repress.