Forgiving people who have hurt you is hard to do and the thought of moving forward can feel like an impossible task. You may have been through a relationship breakup or a friendship may have come to an end. Someone at work may have gone behind your back and got the promotion that you had your heart set on. You feel so full of hurt, sadness and anger and it’s having a huge negative impact on your life.
Understanding forgiveness and the reasons why it’s so important will make all the difference to you moving forward feeling very different.
Here are 5 reasons why forgiveness will free you from the hurt, sadness and anger to move forward with your life:
1. If you live your life with hate and anger in your heart, you will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate. They may have no idea you’re still harbouring such thoughts towards them and are happily living their life free from thought of the event whilst you are still suffering.
2. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.”
3. Forgiveness is not resignation to the situation and letting the other person “get away with it”. Forgiveness is recognising and accepting the reality with an understanding that you have a choice now on how you want to move forward.
4. Forgiveness is the remedy. It is for you, not for them. Holding onto anger is not going to do you any good long term. As Buddha famously said, “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Cure your anger with forgiveness.
5. It doesn’t mean you’re erasing the past, or forgetting what happened. It means you’re letting go of the resentment and pain, and instead choosing to learn from the incident and move on with your life. Even in the hardest times, there is always something that you can learn about yourself or others. This learning is key to not repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
Remember, focus on who you do have in your life and the good that you have around you. The less time you spend hating the people who hurt you, the more time you’ll have to love the people who love you.
Big love
Naomi & Martin
Your turn…
What else would you add to this list?
Which key point will you start to practise today?
Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.