Forgiveness is one of the hardest things we can do.
People can sometimes be extremely horrible and make us feel the lowest as the low. It happens to us all at the best of times, and it can leave us to feel rather bitter. However, this is an incredibly harmful to our own well-being as these bitter feelings can last for months, and perhaps even a lifetime.
In the end, people move on, and if we’re feeling bitter without closure, this means that we’re never able to move, and we’ll become angry, full of hurt and pain. Ponder it for a moment.
This just goes to show how important forgiveness is.
Why Forgive?
After watching Tony Robbins: I’m Not Your Guru, he states that you cannot hate someone for what they have done for you because they also have made you who you are, and you should equally love them for that. There is no reason not to forgive.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you should keep these toxic people in your life. It’s unhealthy to give forgiving people and allow them to keep causing you pain and hurt, but you need to be able to forgive them for moving on and having closure on the entire situation.
Immaculée Ilibagiza, a survivor of the 1992 Rwandan holocaust, spend three months in the bathroom of a pastor’s house with several other women, living off only scraps of food and no privacy or space whatsoever. Outside, millions of Rwandan people were slaughtered by militants.
If that wasn’t amazing enough, when the genocide was over, she then visited one of the militants who had been arrested for his crimes, which happened to be an old teacher. She then did the seemingly impossible and forgave him for the crimes and murder that he committed against her people.
If you get the chance to read her book ‘Left to Tell’, it’s well worth your time. She tells the story of how enlightening it was to forgive these people, despite holding so much anger and hatred towards these people for months.
If Ilibagiza is able to forgive people, then it should be no problem for you too. But this is, of course, easier said than done. However, using meditation, there’s a simply one-minute session to help you along the way.
The Method
While this may not seem like the conventional form of meditation, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work. I know from personal experience!
Once a day, either when you wake up or go to bed (making it easier to form the habit) and simply say;
“I forgive every person who has harmed me, whether they meant to or not.”
Naturally, the people who you need to forgive will come to mind. Allow your mind to ponder them for a moment and think about letting go of the bitterness. You can do this sitting down, in bed or even at the end of your daily meditation session.
Think about each person that you want to forgive or hold anger against. Think about them and say;
“I forgive Sarah” and think about sending positive energy to that person and wishing them the best in their lives. You can go through this and do it to everybody you need to or however many people it feels right.
Go deep with your feelings and mean your forgiveness with every cell in your body. Practice daily, and you’ll see be able to happy, even when people cause you harm.
