Why Is It Important to Forgive?

Hello everybody. I decided to write today about a topic that is very close to my heart. A conversation with a clients about the topic made me think about it and I was sure I already blogged about it, but I discovered I did not. The topic is the ability to forgive.  I had to find forgiveness within me many times in my life in order to move further and become who I am today.I believe that most of us, if not all of us at some point in life we get hurt by someone, and we need to find the courage and wisdom within us to forgive. Many people think that forgiveness is about the person who hurt us. What they don’t realize is that forgiveness is more about the ability to let go of negative emotions that are toxic to our body than the other person. In other words, it’s about our ability to let go of the negative emotions, even without having any communication or resolution with the person who hurt us. By any means, this does not condone or approve the behavior of the person who hurt us. This act of forgiveness will just help us get to a place where we’re ready to step identifying ourselves with the suffering and the pain that was caused to us. By doing so, we are releasing the pain we experienced, and we let go while accepting the reality of what happened to us. 

Sometimes we think that the easiest thing to do is to just a cut our relationship with the person who hurt us. In some cases, it is the right thing to do. However, what we don’t realize is that in order to feel better  cutting the relationship will not be sufficient – we will have to forgive in order to feel better and heal. By making the choice to forgive, all we do is alleviate ourselves of the burden of negative emotions such as anger, bitterness, frustration, disappointment, etc. We’re choosing to perceive of ourselves as survivors versus victims. We are allowing ourselves to process the pain and all other emotions associated with the pain. Something that could help in this process would be to journal our feelings for a period of time. By journaling our emotions about the situation it can help us heal. It provides a safe harbor to say what we feel and ask for what we need in order to heal and feel better. A therapist or a support group can also be helpful in the process. For religious people you can turn to the bible for guidance as well. 

When reaching a point of having to forgive somebody, it must have been that we are blaming them for some wrongdoing. Therefore, we are likely holding onto emotions such as anger, resentment, blame or other negative toxic emotions and the act of letting go will help us release those emotions and energy from our body. Being able to forgive and letting go of these emotions can help us turn around our life and bring us to a point of achievement and success beyond anything we were able to do before. We forgive by releasing all the negative emotions that we harbor within ourselves and replacing them with love and compassion. Many times, this could be the best thing for your soul to heal. You’re most likely not going to be able to achieve inner a piece if you’re harboring negative emotions related to others or hurt you. You can read more about the role of forgiveness and gratitude here. Remember, you’re not in anyway forgetting the past, excusing the behavior, or disregarding the pain that was caused to you – you you’re just choosing to heal, move on and have a stable, happier life.