Forgive

As you live through life you’ll interact with many different people. And while I can’t tell you what these people will be like, it’s likely you’ll interact with people who wrong you, or hurt you in some way. On their side, they should apologize, admit their fault and attempt to make amends. On your side you choose whether or not to give forgiveness.

Forgiveness is the release of any negativity, animosity, grudges, and/or resentment upon another being. What forgiveness isn’t is excusing what the other person has done to you, which it’s often confused with. When you forgive someone, you are letting go of thoughts and emotions within you that are negatively affecting you. You’re not saying that it’s ok what they did, but removing any negativity, and continuing your life in peace.

The importance of forgiveness relates to last weeks post, Fault Finding. One thing that will be let go in forgiveness is hatred, and we learned what hatred does to you in that last post. The other things that forgiveness gives you is lower anxiety, stress, depression, and blood pressure. Better heart health, a stronger immune system, and lower cholesterol. Holding a grudge will keep you away from the present, it’ll make it harder for you to enjoy and appreciate the things in front of you. Forgiveness will give you peace, allow you to continue living without being hindered by the actions of another.

That said, I implore you to forgive all people, forgive the objects, people, or beings that have wronged you. Do it for your sake, do it for your karma, do it for your soul. In the end, forgive everything, it will make you happier, and help you, forgive for your sake.

Speaking of you, something that’s often not mentioned is the importance of forgiving oneself. Often things happen to us, and while we may harbor negative thoughts and feelings toward the outside cause, we often come to blame ourselves, to feel negativity towards ourselves and our decisions or actions. I’ve found that this is often harder to do than forgive someone else. You know yourself better, you would think you could trust yourself more, and at the end of the day, everything that transpires in your life is your responsibility, and you might have done the wrong thing, or let the wrong person in. It’s ok, forgive yourself.

As for how to forgive, first, reflect upon the event, cerebrate it, contemplate it. Second, try your best to imagine the other person’s position. Third, forgive them deeply. Don’t just forgive them to forgive, truly allow all negativity to leave your soul and mind. Also remember, as the clouds always move, everything will pass. All rain shall become sun, all snow shall melt, all things will pass. Allow your negativity to pass.

To forgive yourself, I would tell you to think about the situation, and learn. Instead of beating yourself up and repeating an insidious cycle, tell yourself that this is a lesson. Allow yourself to be taught, and allow the situation to educate you. So you don’t make this mistake later, so you can help other people if they make the mistake, or before they make the mistake. Once you learn, tell yourself that it’s not your fault, and if it was, it’s ok, what’s done is done, the past cannot be changed, but the future is yours to make. Create a vision of who you want to be in the future, and use the present to evolve yourself into that person.

That’s all for this week, forgiveness is a beautiful thing. Something that helps both the other party, and yourself. Dissipating negativity while giving you positive consequences. Hopefully you can come to forgive everything, and while it may be harder for some things than others, it must be done to continue to push forward, continue to exist in the present and move towards the future. I hope you enjoyed this post, have a great week, I’ll see you the next, peace.