Thoughts on Forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of the most difficult lessons to learn. It’s easy to understand in theory, but the hardest part comes in the application.

We know we need to forgive. We know we need to forget. We know we need to move on. But we can’t. Why?

Because the pain is still there? Because we want something to hold on to? Because we are still thinking about revenge? Because we want the person to feel the pain that we have felt in the past? All these are possible reasons.

But one truth remains: the failure to forgive can consume our whole being until it eats at the positive values that we keep inside our hearts. When we fail to forgive, we lock ourselves within that particular time that has caused us pain. Forgiveness is the only key that will open the door so that we can move on.

On Letting Go

We let go not because we don’t care anymore. We let go because we care.

We let go because we need to free up some space in our life for those that we care about. We let go of certain people and things to allow other people and things that we consider more important to fill our life. We let go of things that drag us down, of people that keep us from being the best that we can be.

Letting go is healthy. Letting go is caring enough to give ourselves the chance to have the people and the things that we deserve.

As We Move On In Life, There Are People That We Have To Let Go.

There are people that we let go by circumstances. Life takes us into a different path and we start to live a new life with new people, leaving behind some of the people we used to know. There are also people that we let go by choice. Maybe because we feel that these people are not influencing us in a good way. Maybe because we feel they're holding us back and keeping us from reaching our best potential. Or maybe because we simply feel that we have already grown apart from these people and our values have already changed.

Letting go by choice is not easy, especially if the people we've let go are people that we deal with everyday. Relationships are already complex as they are, and they can get even more complicated when issues like letting go are involved.

I guess the key to avoid all these is to do the letting go gracefully. However, being graceful is not always easy in these instances (especially for someone like me who is not really a people person). There will be heartaches. There will be awkwardness. And there might even be grudges.

That said, let us remember that situations like this call for honesty more than anything else - that is, honesty to ourself. We can't be passive during these instances and we cannot allow fear to keep us from doing what we must do. We must be brave enough to let go and go away if we are to save ourself. 

In Our Pursuit Of Happiness, There Are People That We Need To Let Go.

These are people who block the path to our happiness, those that keep us from enjoying the person that we truly are. 

They don't necessarily have to be bad people; sometimes these are people who care about us and people who mean well but are only programmed negatively such that they tend to drag us down with them. Sometimes they're family members, sometimes friends, at other times even our partner in life. 

Yes, I believe we should try our best to change them so that they, too, can be truly happy. But, if doing that is beyond our capacity or if we feel the matter is hopeless, the best thing to do is let go, move on, and soar to where we can find the happiness that we've been pursuing.