What is Forgiveness?
This is something I have been thinking a lot about lately. Some of you know I went through a divorce this year...nothing like that to bring up issues of forgiveness, for self and other! It is something I have known is necessary for my healing and moving forward, but like for most of us, it has not come easily. I had this idea that it involved holding the other, or self, in some high level of love and compassion. And maybe, ideally, it does. But then I realized, to start with, maybe it is just letting go, almost like dropping an internal rope. Saying, 'I am not going to tie myself to this anymore.' I am not going to tie myself to the anger, self-righteousness, self-pity, or victimhood. Maybe you need to drop that rope many times, and that's ok. It's not necessarily a one time deal, but more of a process. But, what matters is the willingness to let go, to set down that weight and move forward with more lightness. And then, perhaps, love and compassion have more room to come in.