The Power of Forgiveness

I don’t know about you, but I always admire those people who have gone through some major personal tragedy, who say they have forgiven the perpetrator of some heinous event. It’s kind of inspiring. We all recognise that forgiveness is both wonderful and empowering but it’s less easy when it is our turn to forgive others. And, just as difficult, can be forgiving ourselves.

For years, my grumpy mantra was ‘I don’t do forgiveness’, which upon reflection, gave me permission to behave badly myself. I have however, now changed my ways. I have since learnt that it is by letting go of past hurts (real or imagined) that I can move on. Although it sounds simple and obvious enough, it is very hard to do.

Many of us have gone through all sorts of traumas: perhaps we’ve survived seriously dysfunctional relationships, bear emotional or physical scarring from abuse or just been the victim of an unhappy set of circumstances. The first step to healing starts with forgiveness. We don’t have to like what somebody else has done to us, or accept how we have been treated. But we can still forgive the perpetrator(s), although we don’t have to forget what they did. The very act of forgiveness actually lessens the power of the wrong which we believe was done to us, whilst actually making us feel empowered at the same time.

Furthermore, re-running the event(s) in our head strengthens the neural pathway of the specific deeds(s), whereas time spent envisaging how we want to be helps to build that desired neural pathway instead.

So what can you do if you don’t want to be forever plagued by such emotional issues? Undertaking the following can be immensely cathartic.

- Cut emotional ties  that link us to past traumatic events and unbalanced relationships 
- Reclaim any ‘soul fragments’ that we may have inadvertently lost during a traumatic time 
- Invoke The Violet Flame to send healing to ourselves, events and relationships. This healing can incorporate the past, present and the future. 
- Use the Hawaiian Ho’oponopono Mantra of Forgiveness and Reconciliation. 
-Set objectives and say affirmations for how we want our present and future to pan out. Really take the time to visualise how you want to be or feel or behave instead.

The process may sound simple, but believe you me, it can be extremely difficult for people to do and may take several attempts over a prolonged  period of time. However, forgiveness is an extremely cathartic and powerful healing process, not just for ourselves, but for others around us too, who may also have been hurt in the fallout.