We do not have to know how to forgive.
All we have to do is be willing to forgive.
The Universe will take care of the how.
— Louise L. Hay —
We all want to be freed of anger, resentment, hurt, and hatred. Yet, it is much easier said than done. This is especially the case when it involves your family members or loved ones; someone you had granted unconditional access into your heart, but who had in turn betrayed your trust, and made you stop believing in the goodness of this world. In the book ‘Heart Thoughts’ by Louse L. Hay, the author talks about how refusing to let go of the past hurt prevents us from creating the future we really desire to have. This is actually one of the biggest blocks to manifesting what you truly want in life. When you refuse to forgive the hurt that has caused you in the past, then you are unable to live in the present moment; you are forever looking backwards, and cannot see the greatness that lies ahead of you.
You might say to yourself, ‘Why should I forgive that person? That person has never acknowledged the hurt that he/she has caused me, and has never apologized to me’. The truth is, that person may have already forgotten what hurtful actions he/she has caused you in the past, or may not even know that his/her actions has caused you great pain, and may never will. That person may have passed away, or you may have lost contact with that person for good. We may think that by not forgiving the other person, we will forever keep that person in chains. The truth is, we will only forever keep ourselves in chains, bounded from head to toe.
A lot of times, being unable to forgive the other person comes from being unable to forgive yourself first. We may often feel anger towards ourselves for ‘allowing’ the incident to happen to us. We need to first forgive ourselves and acknowledge that we did the best we could under the circumstances, then forgive the person who has hurt us and understand that he/she did the best he/she could under his/her circumstances.
Forgiving the other person is not for the benefit of that person who hurt you. It is for your own benefit, so that you will be able to set yourself free, can open your heart again, and be willing to welcome the wonderful presents that life has to offer you. It may seem very difficult at first, but take the first step of being willing to forgive. Start off by saying to yourself, ‘I am willing to forgive myself, and anyone who has hurt me in the past’ over and over again. When you don’t feel so emotional saying that, then you are ready to take on the next step by saying ‘I forgive myself, and anyone who has hurt me in the past’. When you can say that with great compassion and understanding, then you know that you are one giant leap closer to fulfillment and enlightenment!
Let us all forgive ourselves, love ourselves, forgive others, love others, and focus our intention on creating our perfect future! 🙂