Forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of the toughest and most necessary things that we have to learn how to do.

Lily Tomlin gave us an impeccable summary of forgiveness: To forgive is to give up all hope for a better past.

Letting go of hurt, helplessness and anger will help you to increase your confidence, happiness and serenity. Through forgiveness of ourselves and of others, we can attain a level of inner-peace that cannot be achieved without releasing resentments, guilt and other frustrations. To forgive is to release. To let it go. It is also the act of freely and wholeheartedly granting freedom and blessing for your own actions and those of others. We have all sat around stewing about what someone has done - or worse, not yet done! - to us, but until we choose to forgive them, our feelings will be muddled with an anxiety that will prevent our own happiness. After all, it's not about what has happened to you, it's about how you choose to handle it. Remember this as well: you do not have to trust another person in order to forgive them, because you are doing this for you - not for them! Forgiveness is simply a decision to let go of our regrets and our own view of what is just.

Another consideration about being forgiven:
Have you ever deflected an apology? Have you ever told someone who was apologizing to you "Oh,don't worry about it?" or "It's no big deal." Those kinds of responses take away from their necessary and healthy process of redemption and renewal. Apologies are serious stuff. They should always be heartfelt and genuine. And, when you extend forgiveness, it has to be real also. Forgiveness in order to avoid or quickly end an uncomfortable moment is not pure. The seeking and the granting of forgiveness are profoundly serious acts. They demand full attention and deep sense of reality. It is often through heartache and redemption that we discover new reasons and rhythms for life.There are lessons in hurt and freedom through forgiveness. When we do another human being wrong, an apology and plea for forgiveness is essential to avoid infection in the relationship and to keep clear consciousness.

Affirmation for today:
I am ready to forgive myself for everything that is wearing on my mind.
I fully forgive everyone who I perceive to have wronged me in any way.
Through forgiving and being forgiven, I am able to be of more use to myself and to others.

Prayer for today:
A BUDDHIST PRAYER OF FORGIVENESS:
If I have harmed anyone in any way either knowingly or unknowingly through my own confusions I ask their forgiveness. If anyone has harmed me in any way either knowingly or unknowingly through their own confusions I forgive them. And if there is a situation I am not yet ready to forgive I forgive myself for that. For all the ways that I harm myself, negate, doubt, belittle myself, judge or be unkind to myself through my own confusions I forgive myself.