In the spirit of religious holidays and the season of rebirth where hope springs eternal, I'd like to talk about a part of forgiveness which isn't spoken about very often. It's something I have realized as I have deepened my own practices of forgiveness, letting go and surrender. It is a powerful thing—because let's face it—forgiveness is not easy. It often takes a very strong, compassionate heart and a willing mind to even consider forgiving when we've been deeply hurt in our lives by those around us, known or unknown. But sewing these seeds can be an incredibly impactful action for your life, blooming into an arc of powerful healing.
When we are hurt by another, we feel the hurt put upon us by that person. And though we place blame on them, in a way, we are not being hurt by only them. We are actually hurt by the lineage of pain and suffering that has made it's way through that person, via the conscious and subconscious passing of these patterns from generation to generation. So the person who hurt you, has not only been hurt by others, but is likely carrying the pain of those before them who were also hurt and chose to hurt back. The accumulation of this pain is now timelessly exercising it's energy through the perpetrator. So when a person hurts you, it is a type of tangible "revenge" in the earthly, if you will. Perhaps, believing that hurting you will somehow discharge their pain and relieve or even the "score" of what they feel within. Sadly it doesn't work. They will often find themselves in need of revenge again and again, as repetition only inflames rather than quells the pattern and the action.
Now, if you choose to forgive someone who has hurt you, that is a choice. A powerful choice to be sure, which begins to untether you from the pain-filled or angry action taken upon you and the suffering you may have experienced. And each time that event comes to mind, if you can choose again and again to forgive, let go or surrender, over time you will feel freer and freer of the past insult. But it's not a one-and-done kind of thing. I like to look at our first "attempt" to forgive as us opening the window just a crack. We open the "portal" so to speak, to the act of forgiveness. Eventually, we may realize each time those offenses circle back to our minds they give us another and another opportunity to practice forgiveness, to let go or surrender. In time, our forgiveness strengthens and the "window" opens wider and wider. We eventually feel better as our uplifting choices have gently cleared our pain away.
But something else happens when we forgive. While the compassionate energy of our forgiveness truly is healing to us, it is also divinely shared with those whom we are forgiving. Therefore, we are not only healing ourselves, we are also healing the other of the generational pattern containing the energy of choice to hurt others. As we heal ourselves and put our forgiveness in the hands of the Divine, it now can be used to heal the entire historical line of those patterns used to hurt us. This is how forgiveness becomes a time machine and softens the historical grip of violence and hurt both past and present. In essence, our forgiveness becomes a timeless and incredibly powerful tool for healing far beyond our now moments, going backwards and even slowing the future appearance of negative patterns which purposefully hurt. It allows all our souls to be untethered from pain, healed and free. Remember too, these same concepts can be activated when we work to forgive ourselves for old, negative patterning that interferes with our sense of peace in our own lives.
During this season of hope and rebirth, consider the possibility of using your free will on the true power of forgiveness so that you can deeply, fully heal. And through your brave and powerful choice to forgive, you can know it's time machine quality will also synchronistically be offering a protection for some as well as a healing for others. It slowly disassembles the destructive and hurtful patterns in those who need it most. Forgiveness is always your choice. Yes. But it is truly one worth making.
Always for YOU,
Karen