The Healing Power of Forgiveness

Let's choose love and forgiveness over fear and restriction Ghandi wrote that "Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first sign of self-giving love."

True healing occurs when we have the courage to be present with all aspects of ourselves and go through the processes required to come back to wholeness. I have found that the most difficult step in the healing process for most people is letting go or forgiveness. This step is necessary to set you free from the emotions that have bound you and trapped your Spirit. Of course once we let go or forgive we are fully responsible for our own feelings and behaviors and can no longer make excuses or stay stuck. People often think that forgiving someone means accepting what they did to us as permissible. This is not so. We do not have to allow people into our lives who hurt or betray us, however it can be very limiting to hang on to anger or hurt. Forgiveness does have the power to free the person you are angry at or hurt by, however the greatest impact is within your own inner self as it frees you from the low vibration of anger and resentment and allows you to live life with an open heart.

Carrying anger, hate or resentment in your heart can weigh down your life and prevent you from moving forward or truly healing. The steps toward freedom and joyful living are firstly , AWARENESS of what needs healing or what is holding you back from your life. The second step is to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for the feelings that were triggered by the event without blaming ourselves or others. Following that, it is essential to find TRUST in a deeper part of ourselves, our inner guidance and a knowing that we are more than our pain. This allows us to FORGIVE OR LET GO. Here we also acknowledge the perfection of each experience and what it has brought into our lives. Finally, we experience a RENEWAL or REMEMBERING of who we really are. I this state all the energy used to hold onto anger, resentment or pain is available again and results in increased vitality. We find ourselves more present in our lives. We are then able to relinquish control of our external environment and trust in our inner life. This is not an intellectual exercise but really an opening of your heart and being able to feel compassion and acceptance of the situation or person causing you pain. It is a gift we give to ourselves and our community.