Rev. Robin Reiter is an inspirational speaker and a catalyst for personal transformation. She is the founder of Sacred Abundance Ministries and has dedicated her life to helping all people realize heaven on earth.

 

This month is one in which the people of the United States celebrate the nation's freedom from oppression and tyranny. I always find myself, however, looking more deeply at the idea of freedom and taking note of places in my life where I am still “bound” by something. We often allow ourselves to be imprisoned by so many things; fear, lack, disease, separation, unworthiness, anger and resentment. All of these things keep us limited and separate from the awareness of who we truly are. One of the quickest ways to lock ourselves into a prison in consciousness is to make the choice not to forgive.

In my opinion, the most necessary, challenging and misunderstood of all spiritual practices is that of forgiveness. It is vital to our spiritual well-being because when we choose not to forgive, we find ourselves in a place of blame, anger, resentment or even guilt. When we allow that energy to consume our lives we then become a magnet to draw more of the same to us.

Author Susan Patton Thoele says, “We need to be able to forgive, because if we don't, we put our foot right down on the hose of our life force.” The practice of forgiveness keeps us in the flow of our good and releases damaging negative energies from our lives. I believe it is as necessary to our survival as food and water.

The challenging part is that when we have been terribly hurt, wronged or betrayed we withhold our forgiveness because we believe strongly that the event “shouldn't” have happened that way or the person “shouldn't” have done what he or she did. One of the greatest and most freeing quotes I have ever heard about forgiveness comes from Gerry Jampolsky who says, “Forgiveness only happens when you give up all hope for a better past.” WOW! What a revelatory thought.

How often do we go over and over an event that happened and try to rewrite it the way we wish it had gone? We stay stuck in the event and all of the negative energy surrounding it because we are hoping for a better past. But the truth is that the past cannot be changed. We cannot rewrite it or relive it differently. The past is complete. The only moment we have is right now and this now moment is where love, peace, abundance and the magnificence of God exist.

The great misunderstanding about forgiveness is that people often think that forgiveness automatically condones and/or excuses bad behavior. A paradigm shift can happen, however, when we make the critical distinction between the person and the behavior. Hurtful, harmful behavior is wrong, unacceptable and never okay, but the person that committed that harmful act is a child of God. When we do this great work to forgive a person, we do not condone or excuse their bad behavior. But we can understand every person in our lives is a child of God, acting out of their own wounds, hurts and fears.

When we no longer expend energy attempting to rewrite the unchangeable past we can behold the divine perfection within each person in our lives. Then we shall truly be free.

 

 

---