Passive-Aggressive?

I love being inspired. I'm thrilled when I come across sayings and phrases that speak to me and resonate with me. Thoughts and ideas shared by others that I can identify with and let me know that there are others with similar mind-sets.

Negative experiences leave an emotional footprint on each of us. We can move past it, but we can be taken back to those feelings in an instant if something reminds us of it.

So, sometimes these phrases, while inspirational, strike a chord that takes me back to "a bad place". I don't mean to say that it drags me down - quite the opposite. They're usually more empowering, allowing for a different way to look at a situation, or respond to it.

I've taken to sharing these things as I come across ones that I connect with, whether sharing on FaceBook or verbally. I think that they help me to feel strong and grow, and sometimes they express a thought for feeling that I have, in a new way that I would never have done.

Someone recently said that it felt like I was taking jabs at them by sharing these things. I'm considering that... it may be true - or maybe they just have a guilty conscience.

I'll give you a couple of examples of the sort of things that are currently giving me "Ah-ha" moments:

• "Forget what hurt you in the past, but never forget what it taught you"
• "The way YOU treat yourself sets the standard for others on how you demand to be treated. Don't settle for anything other than RESPECT."

There are other similar ones, but they run along the same lines - overcoming adversity and emerging stronger - recognizing what isn't working and how you need to do what's right for you to change your life for the better.

Do I sometimes feel like I'm "taken back" when I'm reading and sharing these things: absolutely. Might I then be making a jab at the person/people who have hurt me: possibly. If the person/people who have hurt me believe that it is pertaining to them, might that mean that they, too, are identifying with their "role" in the phrase: likely.

So, then... I may be passive-aggressive when sharing these things, because I'm trying to communicate things in a way that I might not have been able to before, where perhaps I should be facing them directly. The fact that I can be "taken back" to those feelings means that the wound is still fresh enough and is not yet healed. Is it better to continue to share? Or keep things to myself? Is my sharing intended to help me, or to hurt someone else? And if it's true purpose is to help me, is there any need to share?

Hmmm....