Choose to Forgive
by Janet
Shlaes, Ph.D.
“Forgiveness
is the attribute of the strong.”
~ Gandhi
Forgiveness
is a highly challenging and emotional undertaking. It’s so easy to forget that the
act of forgiveness is both a choice and a gift that you give to yourself. Each
time you choose to forgive, this choice releases you from a past hurt,
injustice or trauma. The act of forgiveness requires letting go of something – fairness,
disappointment, rage, sadness, perspective, desire, expectation, vision and/or
hope. Forgiveness requires moving beyond what should have been to a place of
accepting what is. This does not in any way propose that you should agree with,
condone, take responsibility for or like the situation that calls for your
forgiveness; objectively, contemptable things happen in this world that are out
of your causality, control and understanding.
What you may
not be aware of is that forgiveness is ultimately about choosing to be happy;
it’s also about choosing to take back your personal power. The biggest
misconception regarding forgiveness is that it’s a one-time endeavor, that you simply
forgive and the offending injustice is over. Quite the contrary. Forgiveness is
an ongoing process. You consciously choose to engage in forgiveness whenever
the emotional charge of a past hurt, trauma or injustice invades your present
world. As you intentionally choose to forgive the past, you can utilize your precious
life force to move forward and build a gratifying future. Forgiveness is ultimately about freedom, focusing
on what truly matters and stepping into the power of courage and strength.
Forgiveness is about choosing to be happy over being right. Which one will
you choose?
Janet
For addition insights
and observations, I invite you to check out the following posts:
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