The Antidote to Hate

A few days ago, I blogged about hate.  Here's the rest of that essay.

Hate is a choice.  You have to choose to stop feeding it.  You need to choose to free yourself from your own mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

It certainly isn’t easy to stop hating someone.  Rarely, is it instantaneous.  There is some truth to the axiom, “Time heals all wounds.”  I said some truth.  The hurt may be dulled but not forgotten.  But hurt shouldn’t be forgotten; it’s part of the process of discernment.  It could be a lesson in life.

How to stop hating depends on what or who is the cause.

 I posit that “forgiveness” is the path to heal the hatred one harbors in their heart.  Forgiveness has nothing to do with apologies.  It has nothing to do with reconciliation.  It is not about justice.  There is no true justice in this world.  Forgiveness is about healing yourself.  It is taking control of your feelings and not letting your feelings of “hate” control you, change you, make you into a negative, stressed and depressed person.  It is a conscious choice!

Forgiveness is the resolution.  It’s a choice to want to end negative thoughts and feelings of hate and to seek a personal peace of mind.  It’s a choice to be a better version of you.  It is wanting to heal your life and make yourself mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy.  It is choosing to be healthy and not sick.

Hate is destructive only to you.  It causes you to suffer, no one else.  The object of your hate could be oblivious to what you feel about them.  They could care less.  They are not worth wasting any emotional energy on them.  The internal physiological effects of anger and hate only hurt you.  Hate makes you a prisoner to anger, resentment and pain.  And only you have the key to free yourself.

The key to free your heart from the emotional prison of anger, resentment, and hate is forgiveness. Forgiveness is for you.  Give yourself permission to forgive.  After all, when you think about it, the person who hurt you could have apologized immediately and you weren’t ready to accept it so you didn’t.  You chose anger, resentment, and hate.  They could have apologized many times and you could have ignored all attempts at reconciliation.  It was easier to hate.  You weren’t ready to forgive because you enjoyed nurturing your hurt.

Stop it.  You are hurting only you—only you! 

Don’t feed the evil wolf.

Archbishop Desmond  Tutu taught the South African people who were victims of apartheid and genocide, that they had no future unless they forgave.

Jesus forgave from the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The Lord ’s Prayer asks that we forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others.

Let’s hang hate so that it can’t be heard.  You can kill the word.  Take it out of your vocabulary. 

Take it out of your heart.