Forgiveness

Forgiving isn't usually very easy for most people but it's so important in order to be well and at peace. There are two sides to forgiving of course, forgiving ourselves and forgiving others. Both can be difficult to do, sometimes it's made harder because forgiveness is often confused with condoning behaviour or saying "that's ok, it doesn't matter". This isn't the case. Forgiveness means firstly, acceptance and then letting go. It means releasing ourselves from the pain of the past, from things that we can't change or undo. It means letting go of the people that have seemingly caused us pain and suffering.

                                   I lovingly forgive myself 

We must have faith that life is on our side, trust that the Universe wants us to be safe and happy, fulfilled and healthy. All the while we're holding onto the emotions from our past, we hold those we can't forgive ever closer to us. We bind ourselves to them by cords of fear, anger and resentment. We mistakenly believe that by holding onto the feelings, it punishes them but it's just the opposite. The strong fear-based emotions are stored in our bodies, causing blocks and pain and still more fear and depression. The blocked emotions tie us to the very people we want to be rid of. By forgiving ourselves and others, we can begin to rebuild our lives, move forward and find peace of mind at last.

Forgiveness sets us free, it doesn't let people off the hook but we must understand that unless we can let go, we'll never be happy. Our beliefs and emotions draw to us that we're focusing our attention on, be it love or fear based. Although it may seem unfair, we must process our own emotions and choose a new way of looking at the past so we can move forward. By gradually releasing the stored up emotions through healing, we can find the strength we need to let love into our lives. We can take the lessons from our past and move on, we can change our beliefs to encompass more empowering attitudes towards ourselves and others as we move forward in new love-based ways.

Trust that life is taking care of the details for you, release the old emotional baggage, stop punishing yourself and others for things that cannot be changed. If amends can be made, that's great, if not, accept this, you're not healing the situation by punishing yourself and you are the only person you can truly punish even if you're mad at someone else! Work through your emotions and let them go, set yourself free... the Universe loves you and everyone unconditionally and is more concerned with helping in the now, what are we choosing to think, be, create now?

It's not easy to let go when things have happened to cause great suffering or loss. Healing such as Reiki helps us to work through it at our own pace, until, eventually we can release the past back to where it belongs and focus our attention on the here and now. The present moment is our only place of power, not the past or the future. When we tie ourselves to the past through guilt or lack of forgiveness, we cannot fully be in the here and now. This is why it's so essential that we forgive because we actually do free ourselves by doing so. We aren't saying "that's ok", we're saying  "I accept you made a fear-based choice and I'm now releasing that and it's effects from my life". When we see it this way, forgiving becomes essential to our health and well-being. Forgiveness is empowering for the forgiver.

Guilt: Our power to sabotage

In this post, I'll be talking about guilt that we carry, both self imposed and guilt we have received from others. I have, over the years, seen just how powerful guilt can be and often, without consciously realising it, we allow guilt to destroy and sabotage our lives. You see, guilt always manifests punishment. Guilt is possibly the lowest of all fear-based energies, just the opposite of love. When we feel guilty, whether it be self-imposed or a guilt trip you're allowing someone to put on you, we automatically shut the door on love. We stop believing we deserve love. So we begin to attract the opposite of love, fear.

Guilt often arises from decisions we've made that we believe are wrong or bad. Life isn't always easy and sometimes we have to make difficult choices or decisions. Sometimes we don't have the luxury of time to think things through but instead have to do our best on the spur of the moment. Sometimes we have to do our best on behalf of our loved ones who won't always understand the thinking or motivations behind our choices.

Other times, guilt will come from other people, sometimes they're afraid or feel out of control and try to manipulate through guilt trips. Sometimes they feel hurt or let down and want to punish us. When people operate from guilt, they are lost and afraid, they're trying to control things. They're operating from fear. This never ends well and will always create problems.

Releasing guilt, including all the guilt we're not consciously aware of carrying, is essential to a healthy, happy life. We must forgive ourselves and let it go. If we do not, we continue to block or sabotage all the good that comes our way. I have witnessed some amazing healings over the years through the release of guilt. People carry guilt about all sorts of things and yet the common factor with all of them is that the past is gone and cannot be changed. But by forgiving and letting go, we can move forward in a more aware, loving way. We can endeavor to create a better future.

It still amazes me how much we can expect of ourselves, how we can have the yard stick up against us, expecting perfection and how hard we can be on ourselves when we inevitably don't measure up to the unrealistic standards or ideals we hold in our mind. It's sometimes hard to accept but it's always the case that we were doing our best at that time, as we always do our best, given our beliefs, attitudes and history, our issues and blocks and the fact that we're only human!

So, if you're struggling, take a breath, let go of yourself and begin to unburden yourself of guilt. Affirm to yourself  "I lovingly forgive myself" repeatedly. Things will start to shift. We may need to work through clearing emotions and old beliefs like "if only I'd" or " I should've" but as we forgive and release, we heal and take our power back.  And if someone else is trying to guilt you then send them love, see they're struggling and love yourself enough to rise above it.

The Universe doesn't punish us for it doesn't believe in mistakes. There are just love-based and fear-based choices, the latter being us choosing to do it the hard way because we don't feel we deserve the easy way. By forgiving and letting go of guilt, we allow ourselves to go with our hearts, follow our natural rhythm and live in a more harmonious way. The other thing you can do, is ask the angels to take the burdens of guilt from you and replace it with love. Remember, they can only help you if you ask them first! It really does work...