Forgiveness breaks all bounds of repression and depression. It liberates the psyche from bondage to the past.
In fact, I would rank forgiveness as the essence of psychotherapy.
As human beings all our limitations arise from our psychic wounding. This wound has been either intentional or accidental, but it drains our vitality. In fact, if it has been grievous enough, it runs our whole life, and ruins it.
We are creatures designed to absorb and transmit love, and when an unloving act is foisted on us, when someone or something casts a shadow on our capacity to love, we bleed.
War zones, jails, and insane asylums are where the wounded gather. This is where society sends its broken souls. Those who regain their capacity to love will emerge from these places of grief. Those who remain bitter will forever be incarcerated in them, whether or not they have been physically freed.
Those who are whole and well are dedicated to their capacity to love. They cannot kill, hurt, injure or maim another because they have not lost their capacity to see themselves as the other. Ideals do not sway them to injure others, no matter how vaulted the traditions in which those ideals are espoused. No ideal transcends their ideal to be of love and service to their brethren.
The cure for overcoming psychic wounding is to forgive. When we forgive, we pardon; we express mercy; and we liberate our own kindness.
When you forgive, you give forth your power of love to heal the image, memory, or person that distorted your self-image and gave you the false belief that you have been diminished, disempowered, and disenfranchised.
It is the wounded who strike out and wound others. It is the shadow of their own pain that they cast upon others. It is their unlovingness that they extend out of their crippled psyche. They become conduits for the poison that they themselves despise.
All forms of malice, ill-will and cruelty, euphemized in the name of some lofty ideal, come forth from those who speak in the names of righteousness; the crucifixion of Christ could not have come about except for the distorted sense of what is right by the persecutors.
If an act is unloving, no ideal can justify it, for to wound another is to wound ourselves. We create pathos in our wake. We spill grief before us.
How to forgive the unforgivable? How to release the sword of ill-will thrust into our hearts? How to break free of the resentment that has bound our tormentors these many years?
You do it by simply understanding that to for give is a healing for you. It is breaking the karmic bonds. It is an act of self-loving. Forgiveness heals pity, brings reconciliation to that which is broken within, and makes healing possible.
An act of forgiveness can be silent. In fact, it has little to do with the other person. They may or may not feel the psychic release as you drop your smoldering anger, nourished over more years than you care to remember.
When you forgive, you release...you release yourself. You release your attachment to pain. You release your aversion to the act done to you. And when you do this, something magical happens. You set yourself free.
It is never about whether the other person or event deserves your forgiveness. It is about your going free from your own web of negativity. When you forgive, you staunch the bleeding. When you forgive, you open up your heart and regain your capacity to love. And when you learn to love, your life opens up like a glorious dream. The question, ultimately, is never whether you should or should not forgive...instead the question is always this: do you deserve to be happy right now by letting it go.
Resource Box
Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. discover how to create a remarkable life
Copyright 2005 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or newsletter. It's a shareware article.
scheduled maid service Northbrook ..If I speak in the tongues of men and of... Read More
Self-actualization comes down to three basic premises: this is who... Read More
Do you go to God seeking His will for your... Read More
Charity isn't the easiest virtue to master. And with St.... Read More
In Feng Shui, water symbolizes wealth. The word "fish" in... Read More
I thought for sometime that I was hard done bye... Read More
The Key to True Love...Do you long for love?Most of... Read More
I want to tell you a love story. It's actually... Read More
Aristotle referred to happiness as the most we can achieve.... Read More
Why do we have an Ego?Almost all spiritual guides say... Read More
It's strange how my life today looks wildly different from... Read More
???Now is the time for all good men to come... Read More
"Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my... Read More
What kind of foolishness is astrology? You read about Sun... Read More
God said, "Thou shalt not?" and we continue to tell... Read More
Now, I will recount in full what happened to me... Read More
We've all heard the saying, "You have to forgive, but... Read More
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,... Read More
What is Enlightenment?What do we really mean when we talk... Read More
The psalms of the Bible are a literary treasure chest... Read More
It's real easy to look at the physical world around... Read More
Have you ever thought about how your orientation to time... Read More
"I learned I was not, as most Africans believed, the... Read More
The still place is the beginning. Settle in there, ask... Read More
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that... Read More
reliable maid service Highland Park ..Imagine the Bible is a sharp and deadly double-edged sword,... Read More
The human race had their beginning, and I had mine... Read More
Matthew 3:4-6 John Baptizes the People4 Now John wore a... Read More
David understood the aguish only those who have chosen to... Read More
In a recent article entitled "Some Evidence of How We... Read More
Connor, a man in his late 40's, has achieved everything... Read More
Most of us are familiar with the inner criticism and... Read More
An act of selflessness is the highest expression of selfishness... Read More
Everything was going wrong.The weight of the world had decided... Read More
Stress & Spirituality ? How Spirituality Affects Stress LevelsTake a... Read More
God, what a wonderful spirit. He, is our ever present... Read More
2 Corinthians 6:17-6:17For God so loved the world, that He... Read More
Do you have a servant's heart? Has God blessed you... Read More
With another year full of family events coming upon us,... Read More
Did you ever know somebody who easily accumulates wealth? If... Read More
As humans, we are the species that operate with symbols.... Read More
The myths of man have been with us throughout time.... Read More
Believe it or not most astral Attacks are not caused... Read More
Meeting someone so attractive, so beautiful. Your heart beats like... Read More
Being"You have taken yourself to be something that you are... Read More
Many of us have been taught that it is wrong... Read More
I recently had the pleasure to interview Richard Rudis, a... Read More
Since the beginning of time mankind has pondered, who God... Read More
It has long been surmised that emotional trauma can lead... Read More
"For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisors... Read More
Spirituality |