Dr. Mark Goulston relates a really funny personal story about how he converted a Road Rager into a friend, simply by getting them to understand how he was feeling.
He came over beside my window and started swearing and yelling at me. I was so out of it, I opened my driver side window to hear what he was saying. He continued to make threatening gestures at me.
When he paused for a moment I said to him, “Have you ever had such an awful day where everything has blown up in your face, and you just wish someone would come along and shoot you to put you out of your misery? Are you that person?”
He immediately changed and said, “What?”
I repeated, “Have you ever had such an awful day where everything has blown up in your face, and you just wish someone would come along and shoot you to put you out of your misery? Are you that person?”
He then said in a calming voice, “Hey, it’s okay, calm down, it’s all going to be alright.”
Understanding our feelings is one of the first steps to forgiveness and forgiving ourselves is mandatory if we want to let go of our grudges. And who wants to spend the rest of their life holding onto a grudge?
