The REBOUND Situation

Oprah's LifeClass 2: Letting Go of Anger & Letting go of the Past...

When you think you are deserving because of past situations you are living from your ego self.
Holding on to anger can set you back from living the life you were meant to live.
You always get a feeling or a whisper...
Do not hold on to pinned up anger. It could take on other forms.
Learn to release anger that is causing you harm.
Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could be any different. It is accepting that it has happened and there is nothing that can change it but moving on.
Let go so that the past does not Hold you prisoner...
Live in the present...Live in the right now and what is happening right now.
Releasing anger allows beauty to come back into your life.
Forgive, for you, so that you and the power within can move forward.

My sister and I were having a discussion about being the "rebound chick" at one point in our life. We both summed it up to almost everyone has experienced being a rebound. A guy that she recently dated became her rebound and when she realized what she was doing, she ended the relationship. I felt so sorry for the guy, because he was really into her. Being a rebound is hard on a person, especially if they don't see it coming. But he wasn't mad at her. He didn't hold any anger towards her and hopefully he won't take it out on the next person he decides to date.

I dated this one guy and he was everything that I thought I wanted. I had no idea that right before we started to kick it, he was dating this much younger female and I guess they fell in love. So they break up and I come along. We first met at a college basketball game and he was interested...and so was I. We started hanging out and I was super sure we were going to be together forever. Boy was I dead wrong! For about three months I was all wrapped up into him. (Three months is a long time when you think you are in love.) I fell really fast and really hard and then things started to get strange---all of sudden. Everything that he did to get me in the beginning stopped abruptly. I never asked him about his past relationships and had no idea that he dated someone right before we started dating.

Everything that I learned about his former girlfriend, all came in hindsight. He didn't want to tell me that he was in love with her. That situation was devastating at the time, mostly because I was selfish and immature. I was upset because he decided to be with her and not me. I held onto the hurt more than the anger. The anger came out in a prideful way. It made my heart really hard. Going through that relationship taught me what I didn't want. And although a lot of things were revealed afterwards, I still wanted to know why did he choose her?

It took me about six months to totally get over the situation and once I forgave myself for not loving me enough to just let it all go, I was able to forgive him and realize that he had a special place in his heart for her. I came to terms with the situation by understanding that he loved her and not me. And if he loved her and she loved him, who was I to get in the way of that.

Even though Monica dropped The Makings of Me many years after that particular experience, one of my favorite songs to this day summed up everything I was feeling at the time....

Class 2 Adjourned...
 
Statements in bold are quotes from Oprah

Class 1: The FALSE Power of Ego