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.

Just For Today, I will Not Worry

Hi there, I have lots of topics I will be posting about over the coming weeks, some which inevitably will be revisited from time to time as they are complex and deep. For today, from part of the Reiki Principles, is the statement of intention:

             Just For Today, I Will Not Worry

The Reiki Principles, amongst other things, teach us to take one moment at a time, to remember to have faith that life is taking care of us, even if things don't appear that way right now. By taking one day at a time, we can more easily handle the complexities of life, rather than trying to deal with overwhelming or difficult situations all in one go, we can break it down into day by day, manageable pieces. It also helps us to change our thinking, beliefs and attitudes when we just take it one day at a time. It seems more manageable and this helps us to keep it going to the next day.

A lot of time and mental energy are wasted by worrying about things, people and situations which are out of our control, which is often the cause of the worry to begin with. By taking a breath and handing the worries over to the Universe, we can develop greater faith that things are in fact how they're meant to be. Sometimes by taking a breath and relaxing for a few moments, we can let go of the worry long enough to see another way of looking at the situation at hand, which helps us to release worry and become more centred again. This is when we reclaim our power from the worry and this is when we can see things more clearly.

We must have faith that we are all taken care of and all is in Divine Right Order right now, even if we don't fully understand why things are the way they are at the moment. When we let go of worry, the Universe can help us. When we are in a place of fear, like worry, it cannot reach us, as we have become closed. All worry is fear based, it comes from doubting life, ourselves and others. When we can let go of worry, even for a few moments, or even better, a day, things open up and start to shift within us. There is now room for change and with a more positive, love based, 'faith in life' based train of thought all sorts of positive changes become possible.

Although this comes from the Reiki Principles, it's something we can all benefit from practising. Take a breath and release the worry to the Universe, find a positive thought to have in your mind, or even a word, such as peace, use it as a mantra through the day whenever your mind wanders back to worry. Remember also that worry never helps others or yourself, our loved ones benefit far more from us holding positive loving thoughts and images about them in our minds rather than worry. Situations are also more likely to improve when we hold positive loving thoughts and images about them in our mind. Think about the outcome you want rather than the one you fear.

So, just for today, do not worry.