I had never quite thought of the definition of forgiveness, although I know I have practiced its challenging demands.
Today, I read in an email a friend sent me about something he is working called the Forgiveness project. Before hitting the links, I paused and I recalled and I went through a number of years, about 30 years, I do not remember much before that, it looked in my mind a bit like one of those books that you turn to see the pictures, remember those, before Ipads, those were the in things : )
Anyhow, I stopped at a place in the book I recognized as a place of sadness and I recognized another place in the fast moving story of my life, that was lit by light. This light I know is when I was able to forgive.
You see, there are incidents in life that at the time seem like trauma, and indeed, if we look up the definition of any kind of abuse or neglect, it will come out as trauma. Believe me I know, with a master’s degree in counseling pshychology and higher degree in Educational Psychology I know my definitions. This can be anything from your parents letting you cry too much to your parents not letting you cry at all and holding you too much.
The point is that trauma or abuse or misunderstnadings happen in life almost each day. It is only our response to the incidents that define them. Forgiveness does not necessarily have to be of a person, it can be of a situation. The beauty of forgiveness is that one is able to release. Release pain, release doubt, release feelings of hurt and anguish.
With that release comes a space for breath. Breath of fresh air. Breath of Light. Breath of leaving unnecessary feelings behind and opening ones wings to fly.
And so my definition of forgiveness at this moment in my life is to be able to look deep with in myself and to find a space where I allow the child in me to grow and breathe. With each breath forgiveness bares and sheds more light.
I would like to thank my friend Pavel Mikoloski for this beautiful gift of reminding me the beauty of the flight that comes with Forgiveness.
Please look at the link that I hit after considering what forgiveness meant to me: http://www.
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