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Forgiveness is Liberating Yourself

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Forgiveness is Liberating Yourself

Forgiveness sounds liberating because it means to closing off old pain and making a new beginning, letting go of all that no longer serves us in any way. What could be more liberating than to leave behind long carried painful grudges and give yourself the gift of living with emotional freedom.

Forgiving is not always easy and at times more painful than the wound itself, however, is necessary if we want to live a life in peace and well-being. If we stick to old pain, unwilling or unable to forgive, we can literally become ill from grief and frustration. Sometimes the emotion is so intense and deeply felt that it becomes very difficult to forgive and break free from that feeling. In such situation, it is advisable to look for professional help to assist you in the process.

Sign of Strength

Forgiveness does not mean to erase the past or forget what has happened, nor that you approve the behaviour of the person who has harmed you in some way. Nor will it change the behaviour of someone else, as we are not entitled to impose our will on another. What it really means is making peace with the past and releasing ourselves from a painful burden, changing the way we feel and think about what happened. We also free ourselves from the power that other persons seem to have over us.

forgiveness is unlocking the door

In contrast to what we often think, forgiveness is a ‘sign of strength’, rather than one of weakness. We are able to forgive people because we are strong enough to know that we all make mistakes and no one is perfect.

Benefits to our Health

When we experience a chronic feeling of anger, we put our health in jeopardy, as it influences our health and physical well-being in many ways. When we are able to forgive genuinely, we lower the stress levels in our body, which decreases our feelings of anger. Research has shown that people who are not able to forgive suffer more from sadness, anger, increased heart rate, high blood pressure and other physical and emotional discomforts, compared to people who do practice forgiveness.

Forgiveness reduces the adverse effects of non-forgiveness, such as tension, fatigue and depression. When we forgive we experience less stress and let go off the need for revenge. Simultaneously, we become less hostile or upset when in disturbing or stressful situations.

Forgive Yourself

More often than not, forgiveness includes ourselves. When we have said or done something repellent to someone else, we can suffer from an unpleasant feeling that reminds us of something we did wrong. By asking for forgiveness from ourselves, and if possible from the person we’ve done wrong, we change the negative feelings which are attached to it and relieve ourselves from an unnecessary burden.

Forgiveness is the most powerful gift we can give ourselves on the path of spiritual awareness. It changes our past, present and future. 

Creator of Practical Life Guide. A practical guide for living a meaningful life with joy and purpose.


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  • Frances

    Thanks for this beautiful reminder of something SO important, so INTEGRAL to living a happy, healthy life, dear Sis. From my own experience, there’s no doubt that forgiveness heals in many ways – physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

    When all beings come to know the truth of this, not only will we and our personal lives benefit, but also society and our planet as a whole. May this happen in the not-too-distant future!

    God/Life Bless your Beautiful Soul, dear Monique, and thank you for being a consistent Bright Beacon of Love and Light in my life, and in the lives of ALL of us here . . . _/ \_

    • Monique

      Thank You Frances for your affirming comment and infinite support to my blogs!
      I love hearing personal experiences on the topics I write about, as they appear to be very insightful and supportive for all!
      Yes, our personal awareness indeed benefits society and the planet as a whole. Like you, I love seeing this happen in the very near future…. at least become part of it during this life!!
      Love and Blessings to You Precious Soul Sis!! ♡ Your Light illuminates me being!!

  • Karen Berdou

    Monique, another beautiful blog, and such a valuable one too. Thank you for the time, care and love you put into the writing of these blogs, and as I get to know and experience you more and better, I know this is simply the person who you are. Your Light shines so brightly, and thank you dear Monique.

    ​Recently I saw some words to do with forgiveness which I loved, and to share them here would be my joy. They have helped me so much with such a deep and difficult part of my life. Perhaps they will be of similar help to others. I hope so.

    “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.”​ ~ Oprah Winfrey​

    Namaste.

    • Monique

      Karen dear, I feel humbled and blessed to know how you appreciate my blogs!
      It is what I love doing the most, next to communicating and interacting with all you beautiful souls!!
      Thank you for your very lovely and generous comment on my personality. As I’ve mentioned before, I truly believe that we all meet for a reason and that we attract alike souls in our lives to support us in our being…. or learn a lesson. Nevertheless, always a blessing!
      Thank you for adding Oprah’s significant quote. Talking about an inspirator!!
      Thank You Karen, for being here, as a friend and a companion. It’s been wonderful to getting to know you better and walk this journey with you.
      Namaste _/|\_

      • Karen Berdou

        Dear friend, walking this journey with you is an honour and a joy.
        Namaste,
        and Blessings of love and thanks.

  • Gabriela

    “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.”​ Hello , my dear Monique and thank you for , once again , touching and expanding on such a vital topic ! I had to start with Oprah’s amazing quote , that Karen so wisely brought to us because it just dawned on me how poignant those few words are…the way i see it is that all the pain and horrible feelings we harbor after we’ve been “done wrong” , are truly based on our own expectations in regards to the particular person or situation ! It has really nothing to do with the other person/part …we were the ones that chose , perhaps to be there and expose ourselves allowing them to hurt us and maybe should accept the fact that we didn’t make the right decision …the fault is not totally with them …but i know , the pain and suffering is not any less severe …and perhaps forgiveness in the true sense of the word only comes in time , when our emotions have subsided sufficiently and we can see things clearer and can have a better view and understanding overall ! ! !
    I am so happy you picked this topic for your blog today , for i believe ,even after a few years have passed , i’m still in the process of dealing with hurt and getting closer to forgiveness and your help is precious and invaluable !
    I thank you again , my beautiful and wise Friend ! Blessing and loving hugs coming your way from across the Pond !
    Namaste

    • Monique

      Dear Gabriela,
      Thank you for your extensive comment!! Indeed Oprah’s words are very powerful and have the ability to transform our perspective to life and towards the way we think about ourselves and our past.
      The only changes we can make are the ones made in the present moment. Like you’ve said so well, they might become easier over the years, while growing and extending our awareness. Giving us a better and more objective picture of the situation. Isn’t it the beauty of ageing and becoming wiser.
      It really takes time to find out that we might somehow have attracted certain situations, to perhaps learn some vital life lessons to become the person we are meant to be.
      Deep felt pain can take a long time to overcome, as it somehow seems to have become part of our emotional energy system.
      I’m grateful to be able to share and interact with you beautiful friend. To learn and enhance our lives and arising above our aches and pains. To end with Oprah: Because, if we know better, we do better”.

      LoveLight and Blessings and a Big Warm Hug from across the ocean ♡

  • Monalisa Joshi

    hello Monique…once again a beautiful topic brought forth and amazingly explained. I agree with you in every point that forgiveness is for our own good. I have started practicing this not from very long but it surely released all the negativity in me. I have experienced hurt but my situation was worst I was the one who was made stood in front of all the relatives and forced to ask for forgiveness and admit by speaking the words “Yes I am wrong…then I was accepted as a wife. My eyes are filled with tears I have faced a lot of emotional hurt but finally chose to live into the same relationship. it was very hard as I mostly had sleepless nights….but soon I made peace with me. I gave love and love despite of all the hurt and pain that was still coming and finally it worked. Things changed, but I had to forgive to feel free and light ,,,not that I have forgotten anything but I am responsible for my own happiness and I found it by forgiving myself and others who have hurt me . Oh…it would be long if I express all but yes forgiving has a strong power of self healing. thank you Monique for a sweet reminder feeling light and happy that I did the right thing I forgave. <3 <3

    • Monique

      Your personal story really moves me Monalisa! I am not aware of the exact details, but your ‘forgiveness’ lesson sounds like a very difficult one. I really admire your perseverance for staying in the relationship after all the pain you’ve been going through. They way you where able to forgive your husband, relatives and yourself after all the pain you’ve been gone through, which perhaps was more about mutual inequality of misunderstandings because of the different casts you came from?

      You are such big sample of forgiveness to me, by still believing in the love for yourself and your family, and find inner peace, through all the hardship. Not to forget pursuing your life purpose along the way: ‘writing’, for which I’m sure has helped you a lot…. to release the hurt and expand your inner world with joy… soon to follow by the outer world!! You’ve taken all the responsibilities for your own happiness and deserve a joyful life with respect, dignity and abundance!!

      Your are doing so well SiStar, I’m very proud of you. Especially, knowing that you’ve become the woman you have, learning so fast and well from the lessons that life has given you! I’ve said it before: Life surely has big plans for you!!

      Thank you for sharing your story with me/us, very brave!

      Infinite Blessings of Love, Light, Peace and Joy to you Monalisa!! You’ve got it all in you to create your life into a Beautiful Masterpiece!!! ♡

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"Throughout my life I've worked through many life processes with the assistance of spiritual teachers, authors and guru's. However, the real change occurred when applying this knowledge into my daily life, directed with the wisdom of my heart and soul".Read More>>

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