To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.

— Confucius

CREATIVITY

WHAT THIS MEANS

Being wronged is rarely nothing, and people who have been badly hurt should not be told otherwise. What holds up is narrower: the original injury happens once, while rehearsing it can make it happen again every day, long after the person responsible has moved on. Memory is also protective, though, and forgetting a lesson about who can be trusted is not the goal.

If an old grievance still takes up a lot of your hours, you might separate what it taught you from the replaying of it. Keep the lesson, and see whether the replay can be given less room, perhaps with help from someone you trust.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

What would you have to stop retelling to let it end?

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