How Forgiveness Brings You to Your Power

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For a long time, I’ve contemplated the true nature of Forgiveness. It is something that has come up many times over the course of my experience and I’ve had a hard time really understanding its true meaning. My current understanding is that forgiveness is not condoning bad action. It is the ability to choose to no longer carry energy, thoughts or beliefs, that support the hurt. We vibrate in tune with our emotions, which means we send that vibration out into the world. If we choose to carry anger, we vibrate in anger and send that out. This does damage to ourselves and others. If we truly want to have a positive impact on the world, we must learn to release those low vibration emotions so we can transmute it and vibrate higher to positively impact the collective of humanity. 

Forgiveness is the mechanism that allows us to release. We acknowledge the hurt and begin to look for the light in the person who hurt us, knowing they too are a soul having a human experience. Some have lost connection with their light in a moment that triggered their own wounds. Sometimes others have been wounded so deeply that they have never experienced love, let alone forgiveness. They must be held accountable for their actions for sure, and we can't always speak our truth in a moment when we experience injustice. However, if we hold onto the emotion, as a way to punish the one who hurt us, we only punish ourselves. 

Each of us holds an energetic vibration that attracts our experience, so if we hold anger, we simply attract more anger. Forgiveness allows us to release what we hold, so we can move back into a state of love and continue to draw more love and compassion to ourselves. In doing so, we also send love and compassion towards the one who may need it more, to help heal the deep wounds that caused them to act badly in the first place. Giving grace, provides them with the chance to experience love, perhaps for the first time, in order to heal, and perhaps change and grow. 

This is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do and I know from personal experience, when the hurt is deeply personal and coming from someone close to me, the pain runs deep and it takes concerted effort to not only bring myself to a place of observing the situation from a distance, but also practice compassion and see the wounding on display. Sometimes it takes me weeks or months to work through it, but how long it takes is not the point. The point is I’m doing it for me. To release myself from the suffering, and to let go of the idea that the other person is in charge of my state of being. Yes, another person may be responsible for the wounding at any point in time, but I choose whether or not I continue to bring it into my current reality.

The act of forgiveness exercises our personal power. The ability to choose our current state and choose to let go of what no longer serves us, helps to take back our power. We get to choose our thoughts and our vibration, so why not choose something that brings joy and lights us up?

Try this affirmation:

I am worthy of love and compassion. I forgive the person that hurt me and see their light. I ask the universe to send them healing energy so they can see their light too, and heal the wounds that keep them in the dark. I forgive myself for choosing today to carry the pain that is causing my current suffering. I release this pain so I can shine bright and show the world my true self. Thank you for supporting me in letting go and moving on with joy and peace.