Before You Pop

I am fast coming to believe that forgiveness is the only way we can truly, fully live our lives. The more upset we are, the more we upset the equilibrium we need to live happy lives. The more grudges we hold, the more we are held back from living the most fulfilling life possible. The more anger we harbor, the more it eats up our joy. The more we hold against others, the less we have of ourselves.

It's as if everything we don't immediately forgive and release fills us up, and, eventually, we pop. Only in life, popping is more like feeling bad, feeling unfulfilled, feeling anxious, feeling forlorn, and feeling like life isn't giving back what we want it to be giving back.

Is it really worth it? It is worth holding on to the disappointment, the anger, the resentment? They do nothing for you but block you and eat up your happiness and stop you from feeling fulfilled!

The only solution is to let go and there aren't any good strategies for letting go other than truly forgiving yourself and all others. No experience in the past is worth keeping the smoldering pain alive, and that applies to a long ago past or a recent past - it is gone - you need to be able to move on. Forgive, let go, forgive, let go, forgive let go and take your life back. Let go of the people who are holding you back (because of your anger or resentment or disappointment), let go of the bitterness tied to those experiences, and let in the sweetness of this moment.

Whether you are faced with these feelings of anger, resentment, fear, exasperation, disappointment about something that is in your daily life or something as big as oil spills, you are only hurting yourself by not forgiving and moving ahead to find solutions. Before you pop, practice forgiveness.

There are many tools of forgiveness. the one I like most is a H'oponopono prayer for forgiveness. At first look, it almost feels counterintuitive, but you need only practice it for a short while to recognize it's incredible depth and the power it instills into the process of forgiveness:

I apologize.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

Try repeating it 11 times, or 31 times, or 108 times like a prayer or a mantra when you are feeling the least forgiving and see how it changes your life.

Blessings.
- Darshan





© 2010 Darshan F Jessop