Forgiveness as a Gateway to Inner Peace
Have you ever felt betrayed, deeply disappointed or rejected by someone you thought you could trust?? I know. It’s a sensitive subject that can stir up painful memories of difficult times that we’d rather forget. But there’s a purpose to this question. The fact is that these disturbing episodes can prove to be definitive in shaping our future emotional responses. Humans are more likely to be influenced by the painful events in our lives than by the happier encounters we experience. The irony is that we perpetuate the suffering by refusing to free ourselves from its grip. This is why we need to learn how to let go, to release our connections to the trauma and free our hearts from the burdens of other people’s behaviour.
?Let’s take a closer look at the life-changing concept of forgiveness.
If you’re imagining yourself offering forgiveness to another, no matter how inappropriately they might’ve behaved, we need to add a word of caution. In many situations, we don’t respond well to someone forgiving us. It only confirms the severity of our transgressions and lends an unfortunate air of superiority to the one who has agreed to bestow forgiveness. Can you appreciate the potential minefield that you step into when you offer forgiveness to another? It’s a great way to add fuel to the underlying issues that produced the problem in the first place. If you seek liberation from the issues, release your emotional connection to whatever happened. Our past can only be experienced through the imperfect medium of our memories. By detaching ourselves from the emotional energy of the past, the events lose their ability to touch our perception and influence our behaviour.
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Is this forgiveness? Well, you won’t waste any further energy on feeling upset or on blaming whoever let you down. This sense of detachment frees you from the need to judge. You create new space for brighter, fresher and more fulfilling experiences that are not contaminated by whatever happened in the past. This is, perhaps, a stage beyond the conventions of forgiveness. It’s a pathway to personal liberation, empowerment and fulfilment.