The Liberating Power of Forgiveness
Become aware of your thoughts in this moment. Are you living in the past? Worrying about the future? Caught up in the survival needs of the moment? If you are stuck in the past, practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is not manipulating a Power outside of yourself to release you or another from a self-imposed bondage, and it is not condoning the behavior of someone you feel has wronged you. Forgiveness is releasing yourself from the judgments you have about yourself or another.
Once, I remember becoming impatient with a co-worker because I was judging the way she did her work. When I realized, I was judging her, I forgave myself for all the judgments I had about myself and my co-worker, and set the intention to be fully present with her. When I allowed myself to accept my co-worker, instead of trying to change her, my co-worker began to share with me all the difficulties she was having in her life. I did not know she was suffering because I had been blinded by my own judgments and impatience. When I became present to the co-worker without the overlay of judgment, it transformed the nature of our relationship.
Is there someone in your life, that you have distanced yourself from because of a mental judgment about them? Take this moment to turn within, quiet the mind, and begin to forgive yourself for any judgments you have had about yourself or this individual. Whether you continue to deepen the friendship or relationship is a different choice, but this simple act of forgiveness can set you both free, and opens the doors of infinite possibility.
By Safire Rose ©2018.
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