The Healing Power Of Forgiveness...♥

Tonight, on the eve of my birthday, I wish to give myself

"the gift of forgiveness" ~ for myself and others...

"When a deep injury is done to us,

we never recover until we forgive."

~Alan Paton

God can change our life.

There IS healing if we learn to forgive.

As we go through dif'rent stages of healing ourself after the deep injuries done to us, a lot of us may stumble when trying to get through this very crucial stage: learning how to forgive.

Depending on the situation, forgiveness may seem impossible to us right away, especially if we have endured a lot of heartache and pain while going through this process.

But I have learned that learning to forgive will put us in the right path.

It will be a gift to ourself.

The sooner we do it, the sooner we will...let go for good.

We have to learn how to forgive the people who wronged us.

But first...we have to forgive ourself!

If we've also made mistakes, let us forgive ourself and go on.

There is nothing we can do now to change the past.

But what we do now can definitely change our future.

Forgiving ourself takes the pressure from us for not being perfect.

And, it gets rid of whatever guilt there may be.

Therefore, we must learn to forgive ourselves before we can forgive others.

We are all on a journey through life.

Sometimes, we make mistakes, which is part of a normal process on this journey.

The mistakes that we make can result in painful experiences; these are the "lessons in life".

But it is through these trials that we learn the most.

The key is learning something from who and what has caused us pain so as not to repeat the same mistakes again.

We can then walk away from the situation with the knowledge that we are 'stronger' and 'smarter' because of what we have experienced.

As for me, it has always been my principle to avoid those who have been unkind to me and caused me pain.

Life is sweeter, more peaceful that way.

And as what my spiritual counsellor Monsignor Vic Rivas has advised me:

"Yes, you should 'forgive'...and...'forget',

but you don't have to 'contend'."

Forgiving those people who hurt us and eventually 'forgetting' what they have done...will open the door to healing.

If we don't forgive, we will be holding on to the past.

We may carry anger and resentment which will hurt us...more than them.

Harboring negative emotions can make us bitter and resentful.

It can affect all areas of our life and will make it more difficult for us to enjoy today.

Not forgiving keeps us trapped exactly where we don't want to be...holding on to memories of the past.

That is why every time we begin to think of those people who have wronged us, it is better to consciously release them from our mind.

Let us make these negative thoughts go and instead, fill our mind with thoughts of goodness & the things that we are looking forward to experiencing in our life.

Gaining control of our thoughts, releasing all of the negative

memories will be the beginning of letting go of what is behind us and moving on to a better future.

We can't change the past but we can make a significant difference in how we approach what's ahead of us.

Let us stay focused on the positive.

Let us stay focused on what we want, not on what was or what was not.

Once we find forgiveness we will regain control of our life.

It's our choice!

"It takes a strong person to say sorry,

an even stronger person to forgive..."

God bless us all!

Love and light,

SAL ♥