Louie's Life Lesson for November 2011

I would like to take a moment to thank all of you who read my life lessons and give me feedback. It would be easy to talk about being thankful at this time of year but I have covered gratitude in a couple of previous lessons.

This months life lesson is ALL about...

 "Forgiveness" 

I love the quote..."when you hate someone, it is like eating a jar of poison and expecting it to kill the other person."  We all have issues with other people or things, like traffic, jobs, the economy, and lots of other things that we let upset us. When it comes to forgiveness, it is often very hard to let go because we feel hurt, embarrassed, wronged, humiliated or down right screwed over. We then carry these feelings around with us, angry at those that did the wrong to us. Often we will take this anger or frustration out on those who are closest to us when they did nothing wrong, but we feel we have to vent it somewhere. When we live in this place, we are truly hurting ourselves the most.

I remember a couple of years ago, I had a long ongoing battle with a public official who was taking advantage of his position and abusing his power to hurt me and my company. When I realized that while I was busy hating him, he was busy sleeping like a baby without a care about me, and so I knew I had to change. I went to him and told him I was done hating him and that I forgave him. After that I was also sleeping like a baby too.

The last person we are hardest on when it comes to forgiveness is ourselves. The negative energy we carry around in our minds and bodies is very harmful to our health.  I have learned a very simple yet powerful exercise to help with self forgiveness:

1. Find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed. 
2. Close your eyes and take a couple of relaxing breaths. 
3. Bring into your mind the event or action you want to forgive yourself for.  
4. When you have it clearly in your mind, simply whisper to yourself in your mind "I forgive myself" then say it a little louder again in your mind, then a little louder, now start with a whisper saying it out loud. Then say it a little louder, then a little louder. 
5. Then tilt your head to the sky and smile (yes, I said smile)! And now say out loud "I forgive myself." 

This is a very powerful little exercise that will work over and over.  Plus, it gets easier with practice.  Trust me I know first hand. For those of us who believe in God, a Higher Power, Buddha or whoever it is for you, you need to realize that you were forgiven long before you ever got around to it.

So, this month focus on forgiveness. We all have come here to learn how to love unconditionally. The ability to forgive everybody and everything including yourself is a skill we all need to learn on our journey to learn how to truly love.

"Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself." -- Suzanne Somers