Practicing forgiveness is no easy feat. Simply setting out to accomplish it is a huge achievement. Great strength of character is required to incorporate forgiveness into our lives.
Resentment and anger eat away at the person who just can’t let go. I’ve read often that it’s like taking poison and expecting someone else to suffer the consequences. Any strong emotion that we are unable to keep in check ties us to the person who’s the target of our strong feelings, like a ball and chain that prevents us from moving forward.
If it’s hard to forgive others, for some of us it’s even harder to forgive ourselves. And yet it is indispensable that we do that in order to keep on going, free of ballast.
I know what it feels like to be resentful and unable to forget a wrongdoing and it’s not pretty. But I also know the joyful and liberating sensation of setting out to forgive and forget.
Study the faces of people of a certain age – perhaps your own. Wrinkles are like a map of our soul: they tell whether we are bitter or joyful, if we are resentful or easy to forgive.
Plastic surgery is no miracle cure: it can correct the outside, but it can’t soften a heart turned to stone.
Who have you been able to forgive throughout your life? In the past year? Who would you like to be able to forgive so you can get on with your life? What can’t you forgive yourself for? What can you do to help you do this?
If you read Spanish, you can download the first few pages of my most recent book, Volver a Empezar, (Starting Over) by clicking here.
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