Forgiveness
Forgiving Yourself
One of the first things that I recommend to my students is to forgive themselves. The harshest critic that you face day in and day out is yourself. The energy of self-criticism, fear and guilt can overwhelm and consume your thoughts. By releasing the old Energy of the past and forgiving yourself you make it easier to not only bring in positive Energy but to stay grounded and live in the moment. Forgiving yourself does not happen overnight. Be kind to yourself and take small steps that will lead you toward the person you want to be. Use your inner guidance and seek out books, workshops or seminars that can help you in the process of forgiveness.
The following exercise will help you to open up to the issues in yourself that need to be forgiven. As you do the exercise you will release the Energy that is no longer for your highest good by forgiving yourself.
Write down a list of all the things that cause you to feel self criticism and guilt. Break your life down into ten year periods. If you are in your 40’s the first group would be age 40 to present. The second group would be from the age of 30 to 40, and so on. Start with today and work back as far as you can remember. Take your time and really think about this over for a week or so. Continue to add issues to each age period as they flood back into your memory. This list contains the major issues that require your forgiveness. Once the healing and forgiveness process begins, you may find new issues that come up. Add them to the list.
1. List all of the issues you can think of that have caused you hurt.
2. Write down the emotion or energy you feel with each issue. (Fear, guilt, anger, powerlessness, shame.)
3. Write out the lesson you feel you have learned from each issue.
4. Can you thank Creator/Source/God for the lesson that you learned? If you can,
5. Can you now forgive yourself?
Try this affirmation: I lovingly forgive myself and release the past.
Forgiving Others
By forgiving others we release the Energy of the past and take back our power. As you forgive others you are opening up to the positive Energy of your Spirit. This action will allow you to grow and experience life in ways you have never imagined.
The following exercise will help you open up to those people that have hurt you and to forgive them. This exercise is very similar to ‘making amends’ in the twelve step program.
As in the exercise above, write down the names of people that have hurt you in the past. Break your life down into ten year periods. If you are in your 40’s the first group would contain people in your life from age 40 to present. The second group would be from the age of 30 to 40, and so on. Start with today and work back as far as you can remember. Take your time and really think about this over for a week or so. Continue to add names to each age period as you remember them.
1. List all of the people you can think of that have hurt you.
2. Write down the emotion or energy you feel around each person. (Fear, guilt, anger, powerlessness, shame).
3. Write out the lesson you feel you have learned from your experience with each person.
4. Can you thank each person for the lesson they brought to your life? If so,
5. Can you now forgive them?
If it would be of further help, say out loud the name of each person on your list, thanking them and forgiving them. If you think it is necessary you can even write a letter to some of them (you can either send the letters or tear them up) thanking them and forgiving them, or meet with these people to express your thanks and forgiveness.
Try this affirmation: I easily forgive you and release my past now.
This type of healing does not happen in one day. Give yourself time to process all of the information. Use your inner guidance and ask your Spirit Guides for help in clearing out the old Energy and emotions. Taking the time to really examine each step will help you release Energy and emotions that have been trapped inside you for a long time.
