Mercy is to Forgive Others and Wisdom is to Forgive Oneself
Today’s topic is based on a line I heard in a show today. One of the main components of good therapy in my view is forgiveness work. All too often people hold on to negative feelings toward themselves and others. Holding on to these things can have quite a negative impact on a person’s mental health and well being.
I think one of the difficulties in the concept of forgiveness is that it is seen that forgiveness is seen as being somehow condoning the act that one needs to forgive. Actually, it is is not. I see forgiveness as a letting go of negativity process rather than absolution.
If we take the premise that people do the best they can with the resources at their disposal, then we can only assume that that even acts which harm us would be the best option available at the time. That being said we must also take responsibility for the consequences of our actions even when those consequences are negative. If we learn to do this, we are truly in a position to change our lives for the better and to move forward with the confidence to live our lives in the best way possible.
