Tips for the second column of the resentment inventory in Step Four:
- Keep it concrete: What did they say or do? What did they not say or not do?
- No abstract characterisations, no poetry, no creativity.
- No speculation, interpretation, generalisation, extrapolation, distortion, or exaggeration.
- Maximum of five resentments per person.
- Maximum of twenty people.
- If you insist on putting yourself, God, the ego, the universe, Western Civilisation, etc. on the list, put them last.
If you do this, the process will be simple and clear, and you will very easily arrive at the punchline sought from the first three columns: I am resentful because I have demands in the seven areas of self: how other people behave (personal and sex relations), my image (pride and self-esteem), and my circumstances (ambitions, security, and pocketbooks).
The above system provides a maximum of 100 examples. If that doesn't teach you the lesson, more won't help. If that does teach you the lesson, more won't be needed.