One of the most beneficial things you can do for your
emotional well-being is to forgive. Forgive everyone
who has ever hurt you, let you down, ripped you off,
and anyone you perceive as the “enemy.”
Why? Because holding on to resentment toward
someone depletes your energy, delays spiritual
progression and growth, and makes your life more
stressful. Forgiveness will not make you let your
guard down, make you overly-vulnerable, or allow
the troublemaker to continue hurting you if you
don’t want it to. In fact, it will make you stronger
and possibly even protect you from further harm.
Below are 10 tips to help you forgive and let go.
1) It’s important to note that forgiveness is a process.
It doesn’t usually happen overnight. Commit to it
and eventually the negative feelings will fade.
2) If you’re having trouble forgiving someone, try
the following exercise. Meditate on the situation and
person and visualize them in front of you. Explain
why you’re upset, then tell them you forgive them.
Notice the reaction you perceive them to have. Do
this until you can feel your forgiveness, and
remember it’s not for them, but for you. Every time
you think of the person express forgiveness to them.
3) Try to view the situation from their viewpoint
and consider all the possible reasons why they acted
as they did (such as experiences in their childhood,
lack of awareness, emotional or mental instability,
neurosis, possession, etc.). Try to feel compassion
for them, though at first it may seem easier to turn
water into wine.
4) Accept that whatever happened may be something
you chose, on a karmic, spiritual level, to experience.
Take responsibility for your part of what happened
“to you.”
5) Realize that if you don’t forgive them, guess who
you’ll get to come back with in a future life for another
round? That should help you let go of the resentment
more quickly.
6) Realize that they will get what’s coming to them
eventually, even if it doesn’t appear so to you. Our
findings indicate that karma often doesn’t return to
someone until future lifetimes. You do not have to,
and should not attempt to assist this process, by the
way. If you do, you will create more negative karma
for yourself. Revenge with no apparent consequences
may have been a popular theme in the 80s show
Dynasty, but unlike in TV-land, vengeance comes
with a heavy spiritual price in the real world.
7) Life is demanding. Instead of targeting someone
with animosity and creating more tension and trauma,
try other activities like meditation, exercise, watching
funny movies, or doing something nice for someone.
Lighten up and let it go. Life is too magnificent to
waste it being angry.
8) Forgive, but don’t forget. Be compassionate, yet
stand your ground.
9) Remember to forgive yourself. It’s amazing how
many people have managed to forgive others, but
have not found the self-love to forgive themselves.
10) Go through the following list and forgive
everyone. Feel the forgiveness. Express the
forgiveness. Remember, it’s not for them. This is
for you.
Forgive...
your parents for ignoring or smothering you
your mom for embarrassing you
siblings for being too hard on you
your sister for hitting on your high school boyfriend
that strife-generating coworker
the office ass-kisser
the office tattle-tale
the office opportunist
the office back-stabber
bosses who took advantage of your loyalty
the guy who fired you
the gal who didn’t hire you
neighbors for being nosy
neighbors for violating your right to peace and quiet
your neighbor’s dog for crapping in your yard
relatives for making your life a living hell
your obnoxious aunt
your funny but annoying uncle
the father of your first girlfriend
your former lovers
the date who stood you up
the date who slandered your good reputation
extreme liberals
those who refuse to separate Church and state
Christians
Muslims
politicians who are fiscally irresponsible
extreme conservatives
anyone who discriminates based on sexual orientation
anyone who discriminates based on race
anyone who discriminates based on nationality
republicans
democrats
God, for laughing when you announce your plans
your higher-self for being so bold on the other side
dark entities--they dislike, are repelled by forgiveness
demons, for trying to bring you down
Wall Street hustlers
U.S. Congress
big government
reckless government
Bin Laden
CNN News
FOX News
CNBC News
ABC News
CBS News
MSNBC News
biased media reporting
dishonest media reporting
biased reporters who have a political agenda
Katie Couric
Sarah Palin
Barack Obama
terrorists
corrupt politicians
gang-bangers
Barney Frank
Al Gore
radical environmentalists
eco-terrorists
polluters
Chris Dodd
Chris Cox
Bernie Madoff
George W. Bush
Hillary Clinton
Rush Limbaugh
Bill Clinton
classmates from high school and grade school
the economically ignorant
wealth destruction advocates
the teacher who embarrassed you
the stock market
rich people
poor people
the mob
bigots
hypocrites
affirmative action advocates
ignorant people
intolerant people
critical people
jealous people
judgmental people
gays
bis
straights
blacks
whites
Asians
Latinos
Native Americans
Indians
Chinese
Japanese
Thais
Middle Easterners
Russians
Canadians
S. Americans
C. Americans
Africans
S. Africans
Europeans
stingy people
spendthrifts
animals
teachers
priests
ministers
nuns
gamblers
alcoholics
smokers
people who toss cigarette butts out of their cars
drug addicts
loud mouths
the woman who talks way too loudly on her cell phone
the guy behind you on that flight who wouldn’t shut up
cops
cop killers
those who disrespect military personnel
those who hate Americans
criminals
And finally, yourself
That’s a lot to forgive, and we’re sure you can think
of others you could forgive. But you can do it, and
think how much more energy you’ll have to make the
most of your life after you do.
“Always forgive your enemies - Nothing annoys them so
much.” - Pamela Daranjo
Scott Petullo
http://www.scottpetullo.com
Stephen Petullo
http://www.holisticmakeover.com
Copyright © 2009 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo
Marnan3 10 months ago
you have NO IDEA just how much I needed to read this today, at this moment. Thank you. Your writings are informative and addictive. i am a fan keep writing!