On “Forgiveness”

Those of you who have taken the Leading from the Heart program know the magic of the gold “angel word box.”  I have decided to select one of the 80 words from the box for us to explore.  The word that came up for this issue is “forgiveness.”

What is forgiveness? Why does one forgive?  For those of us who have been pained by another person, particularly a person of a past relationship, to forgive may feel impossible.  It may feel that the act of forgiveness would be a way of saying that the painful event or relationship did not occur.  It is important to understand that forgiving does not erase the reality of the incidents that occurred.

In contrast, the act of forgiving simply opens up a space in the forgiver from which to live more fully.

The beauty of forgiving or being forgiven is that we are the ones who heal as we forgive.  In the words of Oscar Wilde, “. . . it is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”

According to Carolyn Myss, a medical intuitive, when we do not forgive a person, we are financing the ill feelings or the lack of forgiveness with our energy.  Lack of forgiveness then can lead to illness in the person who is unable to forgive. 

For the next month or so, get in touch with your ability to forgive, explore forgiveness, and give a gift to yourself and another person.