It takes courage to forgive: Be strong and let it go

I write a weekly newsletter called the Make It Great! Gazette, sent out Tuesday mornings to many subscribers. Many of these folks are not regular visitors to Make It Great! I often write original articles for the newsletter, and this week's article got a wonderful response, so I thought I'd share it with my blog readers as well.

You can sign up for the Make It Great! Gazette if you're interested in getting this each week.

So here's this week's article. I hope you enjoy it.

It takes courage to forgive: Be strong and let it go

I like to think of myself as a courageous person. I take risks, do things others don't do, and generally enjoy being first to try new restaurants, new foods, new technology, new places, new directions to work.

This week, I read a quote that gave me pause:

"Bitterness and an unforgiving spirit can be likened to you taking poison and expecting that someone else would die from the effect. Forgiveness is about setting the prisoner in your heart free only to discover that all along, you had been the real prisoner." - 'Tope Popoola, Clergy and Author

And I realized I need to do a better job letting go and forgiving. After all, as my friend Jodee often reminds me, "How's that working for you?" and I have to answer "Not very well, thank you very much!"

So I read the quote again. "I had been the real prisoner." It was me who was trapped, I wasn't hurting anyone else by not forgiving, not getting past the situation that occurred long ago. And I thought about why I hadn't forgiven sooner.

And it came down to courage. I'm not as fearless as I thought I was. All the things I mentioned don't make me strong inside, it's all external junk that I don't need. I need to be strong, and face the music, and forgive. Have the courage to get rid of all the excuses, and just move forward, be strong, and forgive.

That's what I wish for you this holiday season. I hope you'll take some time and give yourself a gift of forgiveness. Whatever is holding you back from forgiving, remember, YOU are the prisoner, and not the person you haven't forgiven. It's all up to you.

[Phil Gerbyshak is working hard to forgive all the folks who've wronged him in the past, and to forgive all those who will wrong him in the future. After all, failure to forgive means Phil is hurting himself, and that wouldn't make it great!]


Technorati Tags: failure, forgiveness, courage, forgive

Comments

[Carolyn Manning]

While you're busy forgiving others, don't forget to forgive yourself.

Carolyn

[Dick Richards]

Wonderful Phil. Absolutely wonderful. Thanks. Courage is often a precondition for forgiveness, and the courage to go public is a terrific start. Courage is often the gateway to another level of consciousness, not only to forgive but also to reach a higher degree of acceptance of yourself and others.

The whole planet would today be better if forgiveness were more in the air.

[Mary Schmidt]

Phil,

Have I got a book for you! Forrest Church's Life Lines:Holding On and Letting Go. It quite literally changed my life.

Of course, I still have to sit down and literally do a "let it go" list on occasion.

[Griffin]

Forgiveness...what a powerful word and concept. Forgiveness has such energy when released by a truly broken heart and the blessings returned are immeasurable.

[Deb Call]

Bless you, Phil. Sometimes I have a hard time forgiving because I like feeling rightous. Pretty sick, huh? But it's true, being "right" puts a kink in my energy flow. Forgive AND let go . . .

[Vijaya Devi]

Hi Phil, this is a great post.
Yes, forgiveness frees you from the prison. It’s not only courage. For me, forgiveness means being thankful to the events or people who caused me the pain & shame & guilt, for an experience that was new to me, but not necessarily new to others, for being able to share the similar experience others would have had. Being thankful for making me realize that I am different from my pain and guilt and that even this pain has made my life experiences richer and vast. Because there are great lessons to be learnt from such experiences.

[Jodee Bock]

Phil: You are on such a great life path - and I'm fortunate to be sharing this lifetime with you. I'm reminded, in your post, about the recent Amish shooting situation and how that situation, along with my spiritual study, have shown me that everything really is about forgiveness. I love that Carolyn reminded us to forgive ourselves as well. Forgive - GIVE BEFORE. LOVE this post (and you, Phil!). You're a true gift in my life this Christmas and always!

[Sandra Renshaw]

Hi Phil,

Awesome post. Thank you for sharing. I want to echo what Carolyn says - remember to forgive yourself, too.

Sandy

[gina sandgren]

Thank you for bringing this conversation to light this season...so everyone can take this with them as they journey through 2007. The Course in Miracles says this about foregiveness, "Unto us the aim is given to gorgive the world. It is the goal that God has given us. It is His ending to the dream we seek.....For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete". So, God's goal for us on earth is to forgive one another, thus forgiving ourselves and remembering God or Oneness, no separation...peace!
Gina