Forgiveness Unlocks Love — Non-Religious Version
The nature of human beings is to take revenge when someone hurts us.
We generally want an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and it’s not in our nature to forgive.
Forgiveness takes real effort because it goes against how we instinctively feel.
We reap what we sow.
Karma is precise in what we put out comes back to us in equal measure.
We forgive to be forgiven.
It’s easy to forgive people for small harms they have done to us.
But to be at peace, we must also forgive the bigger harms they have done to us, even if that at first seems impossible.
If we do not forgive others who have harmed us, we will always carry a negative chain inside us that links us to them.
Having a negative link to others may cause them to harm us even more in the future.
Forgiveness breaks the ties we have to them, freeing us of them—and them of us.
Our forgiveness of others heals us.
By not forgiving others who have harmed us, we are punishing ourselves.
As Nelson Mandela said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
Our desire to punish ourselves comes from our guilt over the harms we have done to others.
We need to forgive ourselves too.
Forgiving ourselves frees us from our own guilt, self-punishment, and self-sabotage.
Unconditional forgiveness of others, and of ourselves, enables our ability to love others and ourselves unconditionally.
First, we must unconditionally forgive others who selfishly hurt us in the past, which will release our anger and resentment.
Second, we must forgive ourselves for selfishly hurting others in the past, which will remove the guilt we carry for the pain we have caused others.
That guilt keeps us in hell with no peace or serenity.
Forgiveness releases our anger, hate, and guilt, which are blocking us from loving others unconditionally.
How do we forgive others and ourselves?
The only thing we need is the willingness to do it.
The greatest first step is to become open to forgiving others.
Then, when a thought comes into your head about individuals whom you dislike, hate, or resent, say to them in your mind or out loud, “I completely forgive you (mention their name); I break the chain of hate that links me to you; may peace and love be with you; you are free; and I am free.”
When thoughts of those people come up again, say in your mind or out loud, “I have forgiven you; bless you; and may peace and love be with you.”
If you repeat that last sentence every time the people come up in your mind in the future, you will find that some point all your hatred, resentment, and dislike have disappeared completely, and your forgiveness of them is complete.
Next, forgive yourself for harming yourself in any way.
Repeat to yourself, “I forgive you (say your full name); may peace and love be with me; I am free.”
Afterward, if thoughts of past guilt come up again, say, “I have forgiven myself for that; may peace and love be with me; I am free.”
You will find that you have forgiven yourself, and no longer sabotage or punish yourself, or create limitations in your life.
You have set others and yourself free.
People who need our love and forgiveness the most often deserve it the least.
Human nature is revengeful, and when someone attacks us, love and forgiveness are not our natural responses.
Hate, anger, and resentment hold you back from loving others.
That hate, resentment, and guilt are only removed by our unconditional forgiveness of others and ourselves.
Unconditional forgiveness and love solve, cure, and heal every problem between people.
What we give is what we get.
Forgive to be forgiven.