Forgiveness…We hear forgive and move on all the time. But what does that mean? And why is it so important?

Forgiveness is the last part of healing. Without forgiveness your emotions will harbor internally and manifest in other ways. Without forgiveness we become slaves to those emotions. Our emotions make a connection with similar events/life experiences that may trigger those memories. Unconsciously or consciously, our reactions are not as organic. They are tainted by the original traumatic/unfortunate experience. We continue living those experiences over and over throughout our life until we decide to be free.

 

Think about someone not practicing forgiveness in any aspect of their life. All of those emotions keep building up, resulting life no longer being enjoyable, being angry and impulsive in your reactions. All our behaviors have an etiology. They come from our experiences negative or positive. Aside from us being in a physical dangerous situation, there is an opportunity for understanding. Understanding what is going on with ourselves. When a negative event happens, our mind tries to protect us from the same event happening again. Which is why our brains record our emotions with that emotionally charged event.  Resulting us responding to anything that reminds us of an unprocessed emotion/event with shallow fast breathing, stomach issues, avoidance, anxiety etc. This is how our bodies communicate to us that there is something here that needs your attention.  If we don’t attend to it, we will be slaves to the feedback loop of our brains.

 

For us to forgive is not easy. It takes strength and vigor. Strength and vigor to want to live in harmony. To live your life as you were meant to live it, in peace.

The first step is acceptance of the event or situation. Secondly, feeling and acknowledging the emotions brought by the event.  Processing them by crying, journaling, screaming, talking to a nonjudgmental person etc. giving them a way to be released. Releasing the emotions will facilitate the beautiful act of letting go and forgiving.

I see two choices here. You can summit to the biological emotions of fear, anxiety, avoidance and be at the mercy of life and its negative effects. Or see your body and mind as system that works in tandem to help you grow and heal. So, accept, feel, process, let go and of course forgive.