When someone you care about hurts you, you can hold on to anger, resentment and thoughts of revenge — or embrace forgiveness and move forward.
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future
The blending of forgiveness, love and acceptance is an exquisite process which allows miracles to flow abundantly into your life. Practicing the art of forgiveness is a unique healing process which involves opening the heart and allowing more compassion, love and understanding to replace feelings of fear, anger or resentment. Forgiveness offers a healing experience of mind, spirit, and body. You will feel lighter, more hopeful, energized and closer to the Divine.
Forgiveness is the most significant single process that will bring peace to your life and harmony to your soul. To live a conscious and aware life, it is imperative that you take full responsibility for the life you have created for yourself. Only once, you let go of the blame, pain, and resentment, will you start to see miracles happening in your life.
What is Forgiveness?
Generally, forgiveness is a decision to let go of resentment. The act that hurt or offended you might always remain a part of your life, but forgiveness can lessen its grip on you and help you focus on other, positive parts of your life. Forgiveness can even lead to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you.
Forgiveness doesn't mean that you deny the other person's responsibility for hurting you, and it doesn't minimize or justify the wrong. You can forgive the person without excusing the act. Forgiveness brings a kind of peace that helps you go on with life.
Taking Responsibility for your Life
Almost everyone has been hurt by the words or actions of another person. Deep-seated childhood wounds can cause havoc in your adult life if you do not face them and release them. If you do not take 100% responsibility for your words, thoughts and actions, you can forever remain stuck in a destructive downward spiral of hurt, upset and conflict. The cycle of conflict can cause incredible damage and can even last for years.
Long-held resentments cause a tremendous amount of internal suffering. When you are full of resentment and anger, you cannot move on with your life and enjoy the bliss of living fully in the present. Your upset will always keep you tied to the past and to the people who hurt you. When you live with so much suppressed pain, a part of you closes down. You will experience anguish and very little love.
Often the suffering that’s caused by holding onto your anger, old grudges, bitterness or resentment is far greater than the actions or words that created the pain in the first place. Whether your partner had an affair or your business associate stole money from you or your parent’s abused you, holding onto the pain can never heal your wounds or mend a broken heart.
Many people hold onto an unwillingness to forgive themselves and struggle with accepting their humanness. Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself. Once you forgive yourself and accept your imperfections, it is easier to accept the imperfections of others.
Learning the art of forgiveness involves releasing resentment towards those closest to you. Often it is our closest family members that we have the most resentment and anger towards. They are the people we blame when our life is not working out the way we planned it to. Parents, spouses and children are often at the receiving end of our negative actions triggered by our fears and hurts.
The most powerful and self-loving thing you can do is to practice forgiveness and dissolve resentment. By embracing forgiveness, you embrace peace, hope, gratitude, abundance, and joy. It is a process of taking responsibility for yourself and taking your power back. It will improve your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. This is the place where miracles occur.
This includes forgiving anyone who has ever done anything against you. It may be justified to feel angry towards them. Maybe legally and intellectually you have every right to be mad. However holding a grudge towards others will only hinder your progress on your spiritual path. Some people may also need to forgive God. Often people blame God for the suffering they endure and for the struggles of their life, the death of a child, the break-up of a marriage, illness or financial troubles. Consciously or unconsciously they believe that the pain is inflicted by God.
Below are some signs that indicate the need for forgiveness.
- Do you live in fear?
- Do you feel victimized?
- Do you feel tired all the time?
- Are you bored or frustrated with your life?
- Do you have symptoms of depression or anxiety?
- Do you overreact with the slightest upset?
- Is there excessive sadness in your life?
- Do you compromise your needs to satisfy others?
- Do you feel stuck?
- Do you feel misunderstood?
- Feeling as if your life lacks meaning?
- Say “yes” to other people, when you really wanted to say “no.”
- Do you judge people?
- Or gossip a lot?
- Do you feel a lack of intimacy in your romantic relationship?
- Do you have low self-esteem?
- Do you suppress your feelings?
- Do you long for more inner-peace?
If you answered “yes” to most of the above questions – then it is time for you to make a solid commitment to improving the quality of your own life by practicing the art of forgiveness. It is time to let go of the past and create a future where you achieve your goals, find your true passion and purpose, feel at ease and feel alive in the present moment. It’s time to forgive and move on with your life.
If your heart feels heavy and you would like to experience more freedom, clarity and understand the patterns of suffering that keep you stuck, please feel free to contact us. Together we can create a plan for your life so that you can move forward and find lasting happiness and peace. You deserve to live your life to the fullest!
“Forgive, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace”