Struggling With Forgiveness? Free Yourself.

 

Forgiveness is sometimes difficult to experience and to embrace.
Holding on to grudges, resentment, anger or any type of negative emotion may be a natural reflex, especially when YOU have been hurt deeply.
Nonetheless, this holding onto prevents YOU from freely embracing forgiveness and consequently from being free.

Life may present YOU with challenging moments/people/situations. And these may even be truly distressing or intensely painful at times.

Maybe YOU feel like YOU have not been considered or have been unjustly neglected?
Maybe YOU feel like YOU have been wrongly judged or falsely accused?
Maybe YOU are exasperated by the repetitive hurtful behaviour(s) of someone close to YOU?
Maybe YOU have been suffering silently, secretly hoping that the other(s) involved will acknowledge your position, feelings + pain?

Whatever situation is causing YOU difficulty to access forgiveness in your life, ask yourself what will happen if no one recognizes your emotions (including the people involved)? Is growing resentment, frustration, anger or any other negative emotion going to help YOU resolve the issue?

There is one very important thing I have come to realize regarding forgiveness, especially when it involves someone else that deeply hurt me, it is that any resentment/anger/frustration/sadness/etc. that I carry within me is acutely burdening me. I am the one suffering from this negative poison.

My conclusion? The most essential person to gift forgiveness with is YOURSELF.

What do I mean by that?
I have often found that the more I am infuriated by someone, and cannot seem to forgive them, the heavier and burdened I personally feel. And, the more it is I who needs to forgive myself, in order to truly free myself.

Here are examples to illustrate what I mean:

:: It might be that I need to forgive myself for having trusted a certain person.
I then forgive myself for having believed and trusted someone I probably (subconsciously) knew was not trustworthy from the start.

:: It might be that I need to forgive myself for having loved someone who was not worth my time, love and energy.
I then forgive myself for having been caught in an illusion of hope and false expectations and for not seeing the truth.

:: It might be that I need to forgive myself for NOT having listened to myself, for having neglected my own Truth.
I then forgive myself for not having respected myself, for having dismissed my inner voice.

:: Etc.

Forgiveness may be difficult to experience whenever YOU have not connected to your Truth.
Once YOU have pinpointed what is truly at the root of what is disturbing YOU, it becomes easier to accept and to release the negative emotion(s). This process makes way for beautiful forgiveness to arise.

If YOU are feeling particularly in need of forgiving yourself or another, and ignore how to go about it, try reciting these words (written by author Lisa Barnett) as often as YOU wish: