Jane's Mindfulness Journal: Living in the Shadow of the Past and the Power of Forgiveness

Like your shadow on the sidewalk when the sun shines behind you,

holding onto painful past memories

darkens each forward step

which could instead be filled with light.

The above statement may seem obvious, and simple, but it is most profound and warrants further thought and attention.

Holding onto the past is probably the most universal of all human behavior patterns. It is the rare individual who lives his life entirely in the present, unburdened by influences from the past. At the same time, it is one of the main causes of worry, tension, pain, sadness, depression, anger, grief, hate, jealousy, discontent,even physical illnesses - just about everything and anything that each of us would be much better off without.

So, how can we rid ourselves of this terrible burden? There is only one way.

Forgiveness!

Forgiveness does not necessarily mean condoning things that happened to us or that were done to us by strangers, and even more difficult to deal with, by those close to us. It means reaching a point in life where we simply decide "Enough!". I will no longer allow the past to rule my life and take possession of my thoughts, feelings, reactions and dictate the way I live each day. The burden of the past is heavy enough to weigh us down until we are bent over and unable to move, stuck in a place we do not wish to be but which we do not have the energy to move out of. Only by dumping this terrible burden can we again feel light, joyful, fresh, young, energetic, enthusiastic, creative, loving, caring, compassionate, patient and tolerant, content, vibrant and full of peace and tranquility.

I am attaching some wonderful short statements, dealing with the power of forgiveness...and how our past effects each step we take in the present. They are taken from a very long list of ideas for further thought called "Your Biography Becomes your Biology" which I will post in full in a later post. For now I am just "picking and choosing" for the particular idea of forgiveness.

There are also many wonderful techniques for releasing the past, and I will explain at the end of this blog the one which I find most effective. This is from both personal experience and the experiences of many of my clients who have moved on to wonderful new places in their lives after combining the technique with other subtle forms of energy work such as Reiki and Bach Flower Remedies-but it is a technique which can work entirely on its own if taken seriously and done properly and with intent.

Look for it at the end of this post!

"Healing requires taking action--it is not a passive event.'

'What drains your spirit drains your body. What fuels your spirit fuels your body.'

'We have converted our wounds into a type of relationship currency that we use in order to control situations and people.'

'Healing means getting over the pain, not marketing it.'

'Therapy is a boat to cross the river, we just have to remember to get off on the other side.'

'Master your responses to external events--don't attempt to control them.'

'Forgiveness is like a rough diet with no payback -- you won't like it until it's over.'

Just let go. Let go of how you thought your life should be, and embrace the life that is trying to work its way into your consciousness.’

'Forgiveness doesn't look attractive until we get to the other side.’

Present time energy is its own transformer. The more energy you have in present time, the more voltage you can move through you.

‘Call back the energy you are wasting on events of the past.’

We are never being punished, only being taught. Everything is a teaching.

‘It goes without saying that not every healing crisis will have a 'fairy-tale ending,' but every effort you make, regardless of how insignificant it may seem to you, will always bring you closer to a state of spiritual and physical health.’

What is wrong with us that we have to have yesterday's grief with us today?

Forgiveness is a path to my inner laboratory.

Get bored with your past, it's over! '

Release the need to know why things happen the way they do.' '

Never look to another person to make you happy--happiness is an internal, personal attitude and responsibility.'

'Life is essentially a learning experience. Every situation, challenge and relationship contains some message worth learning or teaching to others.'

'Practice forgiveness of others.'
'Positive energy works more effectively than negative energy in each and every situation.' '

Our emotions reside physically in our bodies and interact with our cells and tissues.'

'Nothing empowers our ability to heal as much as our love and forgiveness.'

'The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.'

'Spiritual teachings encourage us to grow past and through painful experiences, each of which is a spiritual lesson.'

'Illness can develop as a consequence of behavioral patterns and attitudes that we do not realize are biologically toxic until they have already become so.' '

I am forgiving not for you, but for me. I am forgiving because I want my power back.'

'Get over it.'

'Feeling victimized only adds to your illness, and should it become a full state of mind, would qualify as an illness in itself.'

'We are addicted to the power of the wound.'

'Release victim consciousness and embrace forgiveness.'

We can achieve a genuine sense of peace about life only by releasing our need to know why things happen in terms of human reasoning and by embracing Divine reasoning.'

‘We cannot seek to heal an illness without first looking into what behavioral patterns and attitudes need to be altered in our life.’

For every time zone that we are in, other than here, we drain our life energy.

Law of the gods: get bitter or better.

A forgiving heart is an honest heart.

Blame is a form of energetic cancer.

If anyone tries to complicate your life - turn and walk away from them

If it's not about you, it's not about you

You can't understand what you can't understand

Don't make simplicity hard

Your task is to learn the lesson that the teacher has for you rather than to resent the teacher

Seen symbolically, our life crises tell us that we need to break free of beliefs that no longer serve our personal development

Our lives change externally as we change internally

View every experience as a blessing and a remedy that serves your well-being.

Illness can be a teacher, companion, or challenge-but not a punishment.

Healing requires that you admit the truth about yourself.

Embrace the changes in your life.

Bless your difficulties and ask to see their hidden guidance.

Be mindful of how often you judge others.

Become mindful of your reasons to stay angry

To be unable to forgive is to live in hell, burdened, miserable, angry

Get in present time and forgive the people who have hurt you

We are not meant to stay wounded

To blame the other players in our drama for helping to teach us what we need to learn is the height of foolishness

Understand that all experiences either make you bitter or better

Practice the art of transformation

Become mindful that remaining in a conflict is a choice

Learn that the way to set change in motion is to bless and appreciate even the most difficult parts of our life

Recognize whether you love yourself enough to heal

Realize you choose to stay angry when you can choose to heal

Sometimes the strings to our past are burned because we need a new beginning

Forgiveness Exercise:

Using a full size notebook or pad (A4, letter size), take a page and fold it in half lengthwise.
Number each line from 1 to 70.
Choose a person you wish to begin forgiving. This can be as simple as a teacher in the first grade who made you stand in the corner or as deep as an abusive parent. It can be yourself (but this is better left until later on in the forgiveness work) or even God! You may want to begin with something small and move on to the heavier duty things once you get the hang of the exercise, but there is no reason why you cannot “jump right into deep water” if you so choose.
On the left hand side of the page (remember, there is a fold line down the middle of the page), start on line one, and on each line up to 70 write: " I (your name) completely and totally forgive (name of other person)."
You will write this 70 times.
While writing this short but powerful sentence, thoughts will begin to come up into your head “Why the hell am I doing this?” “This is silly” “There is NO way I will forgive this person”> “Look at what he did to me when he….” Etc., etc. Every single thought, without censorship and without comment or contemplation, you simply write down on the RIGHT side of the fold. As they come, as they flow, just write and then immediately go back to writing the other sentence 70 times. DO NOT STOP TO READ OR THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE WRITING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FOLD LINE.
Once you have written this 70 times, take the piece of paper and BURN IT.
Do this for a full 7 days FOR EACH PERSON. And burn at the end of each day.
At the beginning of a new week, choose someone new to work on.
As the days go by, the thoughts that immerge from the depths of our subconscious will become less and less. There will probably be no more left by the end of the week regarding the person involved. If there ARE still many thoughts, do the same person for a second full week! But this RARELYhappens.

Once the person is taken care of and the papers are burnt, you will feel an enormous lightness overtake you. It is quite remarkable. It really does work!

If something is unclear about the above, please feel free to comment below and I will explain further. I wish you all wonderful new days filled with the relief of "dropping" the weight of the past from your shoulders, and standing tall of joyfully embrace each new day.
With much love, light, health, tranquility and laughter.
Jane

Labels: Forgiveness, lessons, Mindfulness, Shadow of the Past