FORGIVENESS: TEN EXCITING TRUTHS  

     1.     Forgiveness can free us from the imprisonment of fear and anger that we have imposed on our minds. 

     2.     It releases us from our need and hope to change the past. When we forgive, our wounds of past grievances are cleansed and healed. 

     3.     Suddenly we experience the reality of God’s love. In that reality, there is only love, nothing else. In that reality, there is never anything to forgive. 

     4.     Forgiveness is the way out of darkness and into the light.  

     5.     It allows us to escape the shadow of the past, whether the shadow is our own or another person’s. 

     6.     We can look upon forgiveness as a journey across an imaginary bridge from a world where we are always recycling our anger to a place of peace. That journey takes us into our own spiritual essence and the heart of God. It takes us into a new world of expanding, unconditional love. 

     7.     Through forgiveness, we receive all that our hearts could ever want. We are released from our fear, anger, and pain to experience oneness with each other, and our spiritual Source. 

     8.     To forgive is to feel the compassion, gentleness, tenderness, and caring that is always within our hearts, no matter how the world may seem at the moment. Forgiveness is the way to a place of inner peace and happiness, the way to our soul. That place of peace is always available to us, always ready to welcome us in. If, for the moment, we don’t see the welcome sign, it is because it is hidden by our own attachment to anger. 

     9.     Somehow, there is a part of us that believes we can get the peace of mind we seek by holding on to hatred, or anger, or pain. There’s a part which says that we must protect ourselves and that we can achieve happiness and peace of mind by being attached to hatred and seeking revenge. There’s a part of us that says we must withdraw and withhold our love and our joy because we have been hurt in the past. 

   10.   From the perspective of Love and Spirit, forgiveness is the willingness to let go of the hurtful past. It is the decision to no longer suffer, to heal one’s heart and soul. It is the choice to no longer find value in hatred or anger. And it is letting go of the desire to hurt others or ourselves because of something that is already in the past. It is the willingness to open our eyes to the light in other people rather than to judge or condemn them. 

Source: Notes excerpted and based on – Jampolsky, Gerald G. Forgiveness: The Greatest Healer of All. New York: Bantam Books, 2000. 

[Photo credit: Intellimon Ltd.]