Forgiving.
A morally laden word.
We are supposed to forgive our enemies and probably everybody else.
But what about us?
What about ourselves?
It seems so often easier to forgive others than ourselves.
We are so hard on ourselves.
But what is forgiving anyway?
Letting go. Loving evil? Overseeing what hurt us?
The best explanation I have heard so far is this:
forgiving means to respecting our pain and anger but not letting it rule our life.
One thing I am practising lately a lot is to view those who have hurt me as teachers and to include them in my prayers and sending a blessing to them every day.
My experience is that I learn a lot about myself. If I see those who hurt me as a teacher I have the chance to realise why they have hurt me. What exactly is the pain they are causing me. Often I cannot get to bottom of this. Feelings are powerful. Too powerful for me sometimes. But concentrating on sending them a blessing helps me to release these feelings and release my bond to these people.
I am rather tired when I write this. I have no idea if it makes sense.
If we hold onto the grudges we feel to people who have hurt us in the past then we give them a lot of power over our lives and give them a lot of time they do not deserve. I’d rather concentrate on something positive.
And strangely even if my feelings of pain and anger have been really strong the practice of sending good energy and a blessing seems to calm them down and eventually they fade away like an old unimportant memory.
And I want to do the same for myself. Sending myself a blessing and positive energy when I have hurt somebody (of course after apologising if possible) rather than chaining myself to what I have caused. Maybe that is a habit I could consider for the “Skill of the Month Club” in April…
Video: Dolph Lundgren via TEDxFulbrightSantaMonica
Fellow Bloggers who write about Forgiving:
K E Garland: *Monday Notes: **Forgiving Fridays as a Path Towards Self-Love
Dare Boldly: In an imperfect world can you forgive yourself for being imperfect?
the-bee-writes.com 
Forgiveness doesn’t come easy to me. I’ve such a hard time letting go.
LikeLike
It is hard I think. Especially if the pain that’s been caused is huge. And we are trained to not forgive no matter what religions teach us. But its worth working on it 😚
LikeLike
Yes it is. Always working on it gives me a purpose.
LikeLike