Groundhog Day my Butt

What is it called when a situation repeatedly repeats itself? Groundhog Day comes to mind, but thats not quite what I mean. I refer more to terms of a problem that hasn't seemed to resolve itself, or a person who comes in and out of your life generates strong emotions even years later. One way to look at it is an internal issue within oneself that has not been addressed, another could be issues between individuals that have never been properly worked out. Like feuds amongst friends, or emotions for a person or a situation that have been suppressed.

Most people never even see these situations arising, hell, I wonder if they even look. Some I think choose to ignore these situations all together hoping maybe they will just go away. What if they don't however? What if these situations, be they internal or external aren't receptive to the idea of resolution? These are my question.

Say, for example, a person from your past has been recently popping in and out of your life, both directly and indirectly. You and this person have a troubled past, but not necessarily a hostile one. As an observer of life, you notices these moments over a period of time which brings up a great deal of introspection and you realize you have unsettled emotions over the past with them, some good and some bad. The question here is, how do you go about resolving these issues?

Some emotional loose ends I think can be tied up internally by more introspection and self-discovery, after all you are not the same person as you were before. Others I think require a more open and honest forum with an exchange of ideas, concerns, and truths. This can be tricky however as one side may not be receptive to the idea. This can even create worse problems if one side fuels while the other fans the fire so to speak.

In my example, say the person who has unresolved emotions with the other seeks to communicate that fact and this person isn't being receptive. If the first person continues with that approach odds are they are going to turn the other person away. If that happens, this first person could end up deeper emotional problems then original due to the addition of more emotional trauma.

A lot to take in, I know :)

To put it another way, person A is shunned by person B. Years later, person A and person B met again on more friendly terms. Person A is still bothered by the past with Person B and seeks to understand why they did it. Person B isn't interested in discussing the past and gets up and leaves Person A without saying a word. Person A is now not just re-experiencing the previous problem, but the current one as well. In my opinion, this would create more emotional problems for Person A.

BUT

Lets just say Person B shows back up 6 months down the road. Person B acts as if nothing has ever happened. How should Person A respond? Acting as if nothing happened would be a lie and obviously addressing the issue would only cause the same reaction. This puts Person A in a compromising position unable to do anything whether Person B is aware of it or not.

The first thing that comes to mind for most people is why be around them, but, let me throw this out there and say what if that is not an option? What if A and B are in position where they are forced to interact? The only logical recourse is for Person A to address Person B until dialog can be established and the problems resolved. In a sense this is forcing Person B to confront their own issues of the past to help resolve the present issues of both Person A and B.

Most people I think would not see this situation for what it is. This particular cycle or pattern if you will, is showing you that something is unresolved in your life. Be it a fear or an emotional state thats unresolved. In a sense, life is giving you an opportunity to address the issue. Think of it as a Groundhog Day for the practical lifestyle, and sometimes unresolved issues can be easy to confront and others may need to be met with an olive branch in one hand and a stick in the other.