Topic 13.4. Forgiveness

Forgiveness

Before you learnt to speak,

you loved with no effort,

and you forgave with no effort.

It was natural to love; it was natural to forgive.

But then you learnt how to behave from other people

who didn’t love or forgive.

Today, if you really want to, you can return to love

and let go of whatever is not love.

Today can be a new beginning,

a day to remember how to love and forgive

those who are the closest to you.

Imagine that you are in the presence of your mother. Even if your mother is no longer alive, she still lives in your mind. Imagine your mother sitting in front of you, so that you can experience a great communion of love with her. Imagine giving your mother the most wonderful hug and stroking and kissing her beautiful face. You can feel her emotional reaction to you, and what you feel is love coming from your mother to you. Today, in this moment, you can forgive your mother for any resentment you might have. You don’t need to remember what she did, or failed to do; you don’t need to justify your resentment. To forgive, is an act of love, an act of union, to get together again.

Today, if you are a mother or a father, imagine the presence of each of your children in front of you. Feel all the love you have for them, and then forgive them and feel that they also forgive you. Today you can experience a communion of love with your children, a moment of communication, a moment of forgiveness. If you are not a mother or a father, imagine a communion of love with someone close to you whom you need to forgive. What happened in the past is no longer important. What is important, is to enjoy the presence of the people you love the most.

Many things can happen in life, many misunderstandings and conflicts. But every time you feel hurt, could it be because you are believing in something that is not true – something that may look like truth, but is not?

Believing in lies is how we get hurt. Believing in lies is why we distance ourselves from the people we really love. Now is the moment to break free of all those lies and let go of all resentment.

Why not enjoy the people you love the most? Why spend precious time creating resentments against your parents because you want to be yourself, and not what they want you to be? Why don’t you change your point of view and realise that you have so little time to let people know what you really feel in your heart for them? Why not put away pride and ask for their forgiveness? It isn’t important that you believe that they are to blame for some injustice. What is important, is to let go of all that pettiness and get together again. You don’t need to change the world, you need to change yourself.