More On Gratitude

Part Two; Going From to Hateful to Grateful

When we’re hurting, it feels natural to look for someone to blame. We cast villains in our story: the boss who didn’t value us, the partner who betrayed us, the system that stacked the deck against us. And look, sometimes people do unfair, even awful, things.

But here’s the part that most of us miss: Our hate doesn’t live in them. It lives in us.

That doesn’t mean we should condone bad behavior or pretend everything is fine. It just means the tight knot of resentment we carry around is woven from our own thinking, not their actions. That knot doesn’t punish them; it strangles us.

The funny thing is, once you see that hate is an inside job, it loses a lot of its grip. You stop feeding it. You stop rehearsing the story that keeps it alive. And in the space that opens up, something lighter sneaks in.

And when you stop needing enemies, life gets a lot less hostile. The world hasn’t changed, but the way you see it has.

That’s the first step from hateful to grateful. It’s not about forgiving because you “should.” It’s about waking up to the fact that you don’t have to live as if you’re under attack all the time.