Ok, confession time- I used to be a champ at holding grudges. It's true. I could stay angry at a person for stealing my pencil in science class in 5th grade if I really wanted to. I used to believe that forgiveness was weakness. If I forgave that pencil stealer, I felt like it was equivalent to telling the world they could steal my pencils and I'd do nothing about it. I used to believe that forgiveness was something that showed people I wasn't strong and that I'd accept the poor treatment they showed me. Most of my friends and family knew that if something happened where I felt personally betrayed or attacked by them, our relationship was pretty much over because I most likely wasn't going to open my arms in forgiveness anytime soon.
Man, that's heavy. I used to have my forgiveness locked in an iron fortress. Few people ever witnessed it. Just thinking back to those days makes my soul feel exhausted. Holding grudges is tiring! Being angry all the time wipes you out! After realizing, painfully (!), that my anger wasn't actually hurting anyone but myself, I decided to release it. I heard this really awesome saying once that I often use as a mantra for when I start to feel angry or pissed off at someone- "holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." I really dig that because it's so true. I used to think by not forgiving people, i was 'teaching' them a lesson. Jokes on me, because more often than not, those people probably didn't even realize I was angry. So I decided to embrace forgiveness for... ME. I started to see that by forgiving people I was actually setting myself free from their invisible grip on me. whoa. Didn't see that one coming! I used to waste so much energy on being mad at people and half the time they didn't even know I was upset. So, I want to challenge you to do the same! If you hold grudges, stay angry at people or generally find yourself resisting forgiveness, I want to really ask you to reconsider how you feel about forgiveness. Forgiveness releases US from other people. It gives US freedom. It gives US peace. And WE lose the guilt, frustration and anxiety over what other people do. Let's spend this meditation Monday on the practice of forgiveness. Who can you let go of today? What situation can you free yourself from? And most importantly, how can you release that toxic angry energy and channel it into something amazing? Something that serves you!?
Here to help with this meditation is Bex, of http://www.bexlife.com/. I adore her and I love her metaphor in this meditation video!
Give it a try!
Man, that's heavy. I used to have my forgiveness locked in an iron fortress. Few people ever witnessed it. Just thinking back to those days makes my soul feel exhausted. Holding grudges is tiring! Being angry all the time wipes you out! After realizing, painfully (!), that my anger wasn't actually hurting anyone but myself, I decided to release it. I heard this really awesome saying once that I often use as a mantra for when I start to feel angry or pissed off at someone- "holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." I really dig that because it's so true. I used to think by not forgiving people, i was 'teaching' them a lesson. Jokes on me, because more often than not, those people probably didn't even realize I was angry. So I decided to embrace forgiveness for... ME. I started to see that by forgiving people I was actually setting myself free from their invisible grip on me. whoa. Didn't see that one coming! I used to waste so much energy on being mad at people and half the time they didn't even know I was upset. So, I want to challenge you to do the same! If you hold grudges, stay angry at people or generally find yourself resisting forgiveness, I want to really ask you to reconsider how you feel about forgiveness. Forgiveness releases US from other people. It gives US freedom. It gives US peace. And WE lose the guilt, frustration and anxiety over what other people do. Let's spend this meditation Monday on the practice of forgiveness. Who can you let go of today? What situation can you free yourself from? And most importantly, how can you release that toxic angry energy and channel it into something amazing? Something that serves you!?
Here to help with this meditation is Bex, of http://www.bexlife.com/. I adore her and I love her metaphor in this meditation video!
Give it a try!
Happy meditation Monday!
xo b
xo b
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