“I’m talking about forgiveness” – Leona Lewis
This is post 21 in my quest for 30 in 30.
Guilt, pain, anger and shame. All very powerful negative emotions that tend to carry a lot of weight. Any one of these four feelings can completely dominate a persons life if not kept in check. At times we live our lives with a poisonous combination in which some or all of these can be working together creating a deadly cocktail that becomes a never ending cycle. The burden created by these emotions is one that we carry begrudgingly yet can’t seem to put down. Still, relief comes in the simplest of forms. One action can relieve us of all of these feelings that we carry and that’s the act of forgiveness.
There are several ways that forgiveness can enter into our lives. Much of this depends on what we’re feeling and why. Guilt and shame typically involve a need for forgiveness from others while pain and anger usually require us to give more than get. Regardless, forgiveness is not always the easiest thing to attain. Getting forgiveness from someone else can seem like one of e scariest things in to try and get. It’s so scary in fact that we often times are scared to even think of asking for it. That’s because when you ask for forgiveness, there’s always a chance that you might not get it. Often times the mere thought of not getting the forgiveness we seek is enough to keep us from even trying. It’s like we’d rather carry our burdens indefinitely rather than take the risk. Living with guilt can be devastating to a life though. It can control your every future move. You may not feel worthy of any future success in your life because of the guilt or shame that you’re living with. Seeking forgiveness is the solution to ending these feelings. When you confront your past demons with a sense of determination and humility and you receive the forgiveness that you seek it lifts a weight from you that can be such a powerful release that you see your entire life differently. You are once again “worthy” of having success in your life and nothing can stop you.
Equally debilitating can be the emotions of pain and anger. The solution to these feelings however is the same, forgiveness. The difference is, it’s usually you that has to give it. Going through your life feeling wounded and hurt because of something someone said or did to you is hard. Letting go of those feelings is even harder. I recently wrote about the dangers of having clutter in your life and nothing clutters up your mind like negativity. So as much as you may feel like you do, pain and anger are definitely on the list of things you don’t need and the sooner you shed them the sooner you’ll feel the grip that they have on you loosen. Pain and anger serve no purpose in your life and only work to limit you and your future.
So you can seek forgiveness from those you feel you’ve wronged and you can give it to those who’ve done wrong by you. That will take care of probably about 85% of any limiting emotions. The final step to get that last 15% is to be willing to forgive yourself. This one isn’t easy since we’re always our own harshest critics. Plus, guilt, pain, anger and shame have a tenedncy to feed off of each other and just keep spiraling out of control but once you remove these negative emotions you make room for so much more positive energy in your life. The more positive energy and emotion you have the better you are to yourself and to others.
Freeing yourself of all of this doesn’t mean that it’s not going to pop up again. When it does though, you’ll have a much better understanding of what life can be like without all the negativity. That makes it a lot easier to live without it all together. When these feelings arise again just remember to keep a good supply of forgiveness on hand and to keep the positive energy flowing.
Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.
-JB
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Today’s music: Forgiveness
By: Leona Lewis
Available on:
