Knowing and Empowering

In working with negative qualities, there is a difference between getting to know our lower drives and empowering them. Suppose I feel betrayed by a friend. Becoming aware of my anger means revealing all that I am feeling to myself - to discover all the thoughts and desires that I am harboring inside regarding the betrayal, and discovering them without judgment. However, when I start to justify my feelings, and building a case on why it is right for me to feel as I do, I am empowering those negative feelings, causing them to last longer. This is why people get stuck in grief, resentment, or depression - they find ways of continually justifying what they are feeling, rather than simply being aware of the mechanism that causes them to feel as they do.