Regina Brett's Fifty Life Lessons: The Twenty-Eighth Lesson

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Lesson Number Twenty-Eight: Forgive everyone everything.

One reason why we could hardly move on in our lives is by not forgiving somebody who sinned against us and bringing his/her memories with us wherever we go.

Forgiveness is a virtue very hard to practice. In my lifetime there are countless of people who have caused me pain. Not just pain, but wounds that leave awful scars staining sometimes my relationships with my family and other people around.

To forgive is much easier said than done. But first, before we could have the courage to forgive someone, we need to forgive ourselves first. We need to forgive ourselves for committing the mistake of letting other people hurt us. We need to forgive ourselves for giving our TRUST to someone who is not worthy of it. We need to forgive ourselves for being so naive, so idiot, so innocent and so blind. If we can do that to ourselves, it would be much easier for us to forgive someone. 

When we forgive, we benefit from it more than those people who have hurt us. Because it is our deepest being that is cleansed. When we are able to forgive, our memories are cleaned; our guilt is lessened; our bucket of negative feelings is emptied; and our heart lightened. 

Most sicknesses and diseases are caused due to negative and ill-feelings we harbor in the deepest part of ourselves. This is scientifically proven. Should we wait to get sick before we forgive? Of course, we do not like that. So why wait for it to happen. Forgive now. Ask God's loving guidance that forgiving may not be as difficult as it seems. Forgive and choose life.

Get happy!     

Forgiveness Paves The Way To Happiness

     St. Paul comments, "I am doing the things I do not want to do, and not doing the things I want to do." Recently this has been my dilemma. It's my goal of becoming a happy person through following the Christian values. Hence the creation of this blog. However, my goal has just been tested. There is this person whom I come into contact with daily and successfully manages to make me boil inside and makes me unhappy. I detest her ways. I hate her attitude. Slowly the feelings inside me are magnified, especially when other critics of her talk against her back in front of me. I always affirmed their criticism against her and even added my own opinion and ill-feelings.
     Doing this daily drains me of my energy. Not only that, my conscience keeps on bugging me. Here I am, doing a personal growth blog, yet doing wayward things. When I could no longer handle my feelings, I consulted it to God. I said, there is no way I could correct the person because no one could change someone's attitude in an instant and without the person's consent. Moreover, when the person is not that emotionally and psychologically mature.
      Eventually God did not delay the answer. He answered in one word -- forgiveness. Forgiveness not so much to the person who caused me misery, because there would be many of them whom I would eventually encounter in my lifetime. But forgiveness in myself. The reason why I react negatively and painfully, is because I harbor within me those feeling of negativity and pains. In short, I have not fully forgiven myself from my mistakes in the past, thereby making me difficult to accept people as they are, good and bad alike. I have not fully forgiven and accepted myself as I am with all my weaknesses and shortcomings. This dawned on me. I was awakened from my deepest slumber. Yes, this is what I have to work on within myself. For if I were loving myself as I am, there would be no difficulty on my part accepting people as they are. With this realization I am so thankful to God. And I am happy.
     Get happy!