It’s easy to blame others.

It’s easy to pin-point who hurt us or who made us mad.

It’s easy to say we are how we are because of a past trauma or hurt.

Although that may be easy to do, it keeps us living in the past and blocks the one thing that everyone aspires for: Freedom. True freedom.

The key to freedom is forgiveness.

We all have those people who have made us mad, who have betrayed us or who made us feel unworthy.

Those people may know the effect of there actions, or they very well may not.

We may crave answers for why and seek redemption, but all that really does is keep the experience alive and direct our attention to a place that no longer exists.

Forgiveness is easier said than done, as are most things in life. But that being said, it too gets easier with practice.

To experience true freedom we must forgive those who have hurt us, both knowingly and unknowingly.

To the people who have hurt us, write it down and make a list. Drop the why’s, thank them for the lesson, bless them and forgive them.

To experience true freedom we must forgive ourselves for people that we have hurt, both knowingly and unknowingly.

Perhaps one of those people is a mother, a friend or an ex-boyfriend. Or perhaps one of those people is yourself.

For the people we may have done harm upon—tell them, write a letter. It’s never too late to apologize. Its time to own our shit and sweetly untangle the issues of the past.

If a letter isn’t your thing, draw it in the sand or scream it off a mountain top. Whatever the method may be, for everyone’s sake, do it now. There is no more time to waste living in a place of anger or resentment. There is no more time to waste blocking ourselves from what we all really deserve, that which is experiencing true freedom.

Thank them for the lesson, bless them and forgive them.

To let go of anger and resentment, what is needed is forgiveness.

To release past pain and trauma, what is needed is forgiveness.

To shift into a state of gratitude, what is needed is forgiveness.

When we forgive, we release the past

When we forgive ourselves and others for harm that has occurred, both knowingly and unknowingly, we can then fully arrive in this present moment.

When we fully arrive in this moment, with every cell of our being, we then become free. Truly free.

The key to freedom is forgiveness.

Thank them, bless them and forgive them.

Above all else, forgive yourself.

Relephant:

We Must Die Before We Die, to Really Feel Alive.

~

Author: Alexa Torontow

Editor: Travis May

Photo: Wikimedia