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The Best Reason to Get Over a Grudge and Get On With Your Life — And 7 Questions to Guide You

Tonya S. Ware
5 min readJan 7, 2020

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I used to hold grudges. Then I heard God speak to me

I thought everybody held grudges. They are a normal part of life for most of my family.

My grandfather, Paw-paw, sold his son’s dog and 60 years later his son still fumed about it.

My uncle was 12 years old when the injustice occurred. The more he thought about what happened, the hotter his blood boiled. It seemed that every year, he despised his dad more than he did the prior year — to the point that he refused to attend Paw-Paw’s funeral.

Although my uncle did not realize it, continuous concentration on the “crime” committed against him kept the “crime” active inside of him. My uncle went to his grave, 72 years old, and still holding a grudge about the sale of a dog.

People deal with transgressions every day. Some of the wrongs are so horrific that you wonder how the victims find the power to move on in life. Perhaps that’s it. They choose not to be perpetual victims.

My uncle lived most of his life with a victim mindset.

Well, at least, he remembered why he held the grudge. Many people hold onto the pain of an offense long after forgetting what happened. “He did me wrong. I

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Tonya S. Ware
Tonya S. Ware

Written by Tonya S. Ware

Live healthy, age well, laugh, and have fun. Let’s make it happen. tonyasware@gmail.com

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