Day 107: Forgive and Create Kindness
“There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” – Bryant McGill
Forgiveness is a difficult subject. Resentment and forgiveness cannot coexist. Love and resentment cannot coexist either. Can we truly love someone if there is past hurt, resentment, and anger? Can we learn to forgive, release and let go so that love and kindness can exist?
The thing about resentment, is that the only person being hurt, is the one holding onto the the resentment. There is that saying that goes something like “holding onto resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” A little morbid, but gets the point across. So how can we forgive and let go? As always, I think forgiveness, must begin with the self. We must look within and rather than berate ourselves for being foolish, or what ever the negative feeling, we must forgive ourselves, be gentle, understanding, and soothing. Remind ourselves that we make mistake, humans make mistakes, and that all is well. That life is good, that we are good, whole and loved, and we are taken care of. Once we can forgive ourselves, the resentment starts to loosen. We can then move onto to the person we are upset with. We can begin to say something to the effect of: “I now forgive the person that hurt me, I release all resentment and anger. I love myself and I love you. I forgive myself and I forgive you.” This opens us up to healing, kindness, and love.
Jennifer Palazzo
Photo Courtesy of FreeImages.com and The Very Kind Mira Pavlakovic
4 Acts of Kindness 