What do you do when you are offended? Do you quickly let it go, or do you sit and ruminate on it? If you, like most people, tend to do the latter, it can create bitterness, resentment, and pent-up anger in your life and in your heart.
Living in a place where we are constantly offended is an unhealthy place to be. My guest today knows this all too well. Brant Hansen is an author, nationally syndicated radio host, advocate for life-changing healthcare to children through CURE International, and the writer of Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better.
In his book, Brant explains how giving up your “right” to be offended can be one of the most freeing, healthy, simplifying, relaxing, refreshing, stress-relieving, and encouraging things you can do.
In this episode, we talk about:
- How holding on to things can harm us
- Why you should use traffic as forgiveness practice
- The personal benefits of letting things go
- And so much more!
I hope this conversation is helpful as we navigate anger and offenses in our daily lives!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- [BOOK] Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better
- Connect with Brant on his website, Facebook, or Instagram
- Join me at the Empty Nest Full Life Retreat!
- As a thank you for listening, get your 3 free eBooks.
My Key Takeaways:
1) We need to learn how to deal with our anger. Do you easily take offense? Perhaps you often ponder all the ways you have been wronged? If we were being honest, we all do this to some extent or another. Unresolved or pent-up anger is not only unhealthy; it can damage us physically and spiritually.
2) Forgiveness does not require a response from the person who harmed you. We often think of forgiveness as a two-way street that requires a response from the offending party. But the reality is that forgiveness can also be an action between just us and God. We can let offenses go without that person making amends.
3) Practice gratitude. One way we can replace our perpetual anger is with humility and gratitude. For this to be effective, we have to make a habit of doing this. This could be putting into practice Brant’s “forgiveness practice” while you are in traffic or keeping a gratitude journal. There are so many ways we can start cultivating gratitude to replaces anger in our lives!
About Brant:
Brant Hansen is an author, nationally syndicated radio host, and advocate for healing children through CURE International. He has written for numerous outlets on matters as varied as public policy, culture, sports, Asperger’s Syndrome, and faith. Brant’s first book, Unoffendable, has prompted discussions on the idea of forgiveness and our culture’s embrace of self-righteous anger. Brant has been married to his wife, Carolyn, for 30 years and they have two adult children. In his spare time, Brant dabbles in singing and songwriting.
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