As long as we choose to remain angry or upset about something that has already happened, we will have it on our mind as often as we may be reminded of it. In refusing to forgive old hurts, we live them over again. We can unleash enormous amounts of energy by simply focusing on what is, right now!
Oprah gave us a great way to think about forgiveness. She said one of the best definitions she’s ever heard and how she got past her abuse, was to think of forgiveness as not letting whoever(or whatever) it was off the hook for whatever they did, but to give up the hope of wishing the past could have been any different. I love that.
I think its really important that she mentioned we don’t have to let anyone off the hook. We can still remember what happened, and incorporate the lessons that it taught us into our life, but we’ve got to take all of the emotions out of the equation. We should forgive that person (or people) but we don’t have to forget. We don’t have to forget about the consequences, but we should try to do our best to let go of all the feelings that came with them.
What we resist persists. It takes a lot of energy to remember things from the past. It is like trying to hold up a 5 pound weight at shoulder level. In the moment, its very easy, but try to hold that weight up for hours, weeks, or months, and you will discover how difficult it is to hold even a simple burden over a long time. It takes A LOT of energy to resist what is. Let go of the past, as it is unchangeable, and live in the moment. We can choose how we approach things, and we can choose to be free by simply making the decision to forgive. We shouldn’t spend our precious and powerful energy on looking backwards, instead we can choose to embrace the present and dedicate all of our energy to being the best we can possibly be.
Realize that what happened has already been. It is written in stone and there is nothing we can do to change it. We can move forward from any point in our life, so even if you’ve been burdened over something that happened a long time ago, we can move forward right now and be something brand new for the rest of our lives.
