Letting Go, Alexanderplatz, Berlin, Germany, July 2004, Pentax Optio 555, Exposure 1/640 sec @ f7.5, ISO 64, no flash © Steven Crisp [Click on the photo to enlarge]{continuing the series, by Susan Skog}
"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." -- Nelson Mandela
This month, try to release one individual--it could be yourself--from your anger and judgment. If you can't change what happened, then change your thoughts about it. Let it go. Forgiveness isn't about forgetting, it's about being at peace in your own skin. It's about getting on with your life, says Arun Gandhi, who forgave the man who killed his grandfather. "Being obsessed with anger only destroys us."
Forgiveness should be so easy. We don't have to do anything. We need only to let go of things. Let go of our righteousness, our indignation, our judgmentalism, and our hurt and our pain.
It is important to realize that with our forgiveness, we are helping to heal two souls -- that of the forgiven, and our own. The pain that we carry around in terms of resentment, and perhaps that ever present undercurrent of a desire for revenge, will be lessened.
So try letting go. Forgive the last person who has slighted you -- simply within your own mind. Give yourself a chance to renew that relationship that might otherwise be extinguished. What do you fear? Of getting hurt again? That will be yet another opportunity to forgive. And in the process, you will both learn very valuable lessons.
