You hear lots of people saying that you need to forgive. But do we really know what it means to forgive? At least in my case, it took a while to understand the real meaning of forgiveness.
Because of the beliefs that were implanted into our head for many years, there is a big change you may have a different understanding on why we need to forgive.
I invite you to join with me in this quick meditation with open mind and always with the goal to improve ourselves.
For many years, I thought of forgiveness as almost doing a favor to God. Like, God asked me to forgive and will do Him a solid and forgive. And in exchange, I expected something from him. I have no problem talking about it because I know many people use to think or still think that way.
With time, life experience and meditation, I came to a conclusion that we are instructed to forgive for our own good. We are actually doing ourselves a favor by forgiving ourselves first, and then forgiving others who may have caused harm to us.
Think about how you feel when you don’t forgive yourself or someone. You become bitter, with low level of energy, just a bad vibe. And you know that feeling is consuming you inside which, if not addressed, can lead you to destructive behaviors.
The first step is to forgive yourself for any mistakes you may have made. You can only truly forgive others if you forgive yourself first. You cannot give what you don’t have. If you don’t have forgiveness for yourself, how can you forgive someone else?
Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting. When you forgive yourself, you don’t forget what you did, you simply learn from whatever you did and work diligently to not do it again.
The same way, when you forgive someone who hurts you, you are not forgetting what they did to you. You are just intentionally choosing to not let whatever they did to you control your life and turn it into bitterness instead of joy. It’s good to not focus on what the person did to you but on what you can learn from that and how you can avoid being hurt again by that person or by someone else.
Another thing to consider is whether or not the person who hurt you repented and is willing to make things right. Depending on how bad the other person hurt you and whether they are working towards making things right, you are free to choose if you want to continue in a relationship with that person or just stay away. You should always protect yourself from anyone wanting to harm you while at the same time being able to forgive and move on. Whatever you do, make sure you to not carry any resentment in your heart, it will eat you inside slowly. That’s for your own good. You are doing yourself a big favor by forgiving.
Another thing to consider is that we all make mistakes. It’s easy to throw stones and act as victims when things happen to us. But ask yourself, how many times have you hurt someone intentionally or unintentionally? Would you like them to forgive you or not? If they don’t, are they directly hurting you or hurting themselves?
Call it Karma, law of attraction, whatever you want, but one thing is for certain. Everyone reaps what they sow. People who are constantly and intentionally hurting other people are sowing destruction and soon or later it will come back to them.
Keep also in mind that there are laws in place to protect you and you should look for help or guidance whenever necessary. For example, victims of domestic violence can always call the police, get a restraining order, etc. You must love and protect yourself. Forgive yourself and forgive others and move on and become the best version of yourself, even after excruciating pain. I know it’s easier said than done but we all have the power to do it. We just have to decide to do it.
I hope this meditation was enlightening and has impacted you in a positive way.
Make sure to explore our website for more articles and amazing tips on how to make the most out of this life and become the best version of yourself. You can also subscribe to our newsletter so we can notify you when new articles are published.