Today's
Quotation:
When I
feel betrayed by someone, instead of sulking, clinging to
my
resentment and playing the role of victim, I am
challenged to strengthen
my soul through forgiveness. By forgiving the person who hurt me, I
strengthen
my soul. . . . each time we are called upon to forgive, we
nourish our souls and learn more about
who we are and what we have
to share in this world. This is also an example of unconditional love.
John
Gray
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Today's
Meditation:
Forgiveness
truly is one of the greatest things in life. I've
found that when I'm willing and able to forgive someone
else, the burden of anger and resentment that I've been
carrying around is gone immediately, and they no longer
affect the way that I feel. I'm able to see the world
in a brighter, more cheerful way, and my life is much more
enjoyable. Forgiving someone else is sometimes
important to the person who has caused us pain, but it's
much, much more important to me. If I don't forgive
someone, I sometimes cause that other person a bit of pain,
but I always cause myself a great deal of misery.
One
of the most ironic things about not forgiving someone, on
the other hand, is that the other person very often doesn't
even know that we've been hurt or that we're bearing a
grudge. We're not affecting the other person at all,
but we're causing ourselves to live our lives much less
fully than we normally would. In other words, we're
hurting ourselves and accomplishing absolutely nothing with
the effort.
John
Gray says that forgiveness strengthens our souls, and I
believe him. My soul is strengthened through love and
loving, and the more I love others--the more I actually show
that love--the stronger I become as a human being. The
more I forgive, the less that outside circumstances are able
to affect me, the less hurt I feel because of other people's
actions. Most people hurt us inadvertently, anyway,
and most of our pain is caused by our reactions to what
other people do.
Take
care of yourself, and help yourself to grow and strengthen
and live life more fully. Learning how to forgive
fully, sincerely, and lovingly is one of the best things you
can do to help yourself grow into the person you were put
here to be.
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