Forgiveness Heals

Aloha All,
I often think about forgiveness, all its associations and what it means to me personally and what it means in our culture.

For me, forgiveness has been a powerful ally in my healing and in getting my life back from those people from whom I received abuse. Many people and religions feel that we should just give a blanket round of forgiveness to our perpetrators and to "just get over it" the "it" being the abuse. In my experience, "getting over it" rarely works. For me, forgiveness runs much deeper into the core of who we are and how we want to be in the world. I do not forgive others for their sakes or because my religion or someone says I must. I forgive others so that I may be free of them and to have a more enriching, enlivening, and happy life.

Recently, I came across a beautiful article in Yoga Journal that talks about forgiveness much more eloquently than I ever could:
Forgiveness Heals

Peace,
Tom