“The decision to let go of that which has completed its course in your experience is even more important than the decision to welcome new ideas” – Raymond Charles Barker.
Yet letting go of the old isn’t our normal experience here on planet earth, is it? We often go through life piling up hurts, sorrow, pain, guilt and the like from things we’ve done or had done to us. Some of us horde ideas, others horde things. We often believe we are justified in one way or another – there is always someone or something to blame.
The circumstance or situation we’ve experienced starts to become familiar, and part of our story. Sometimes we have so identified ourselves with it that we unconsciously adopt it as part of our identity – who we think we are. We walk in the world with that hurt, pain or rejection. It’s the way we present to the world.
Over time the accumulation weighs us down. Situations become like a block in our consciousness; a gatekeeper to the opportunities we can see and are available to. Sometimes we get help with the internal and external clutter. Yet, once the thoughts have become routine or a pattern of thought, over time more and more accumulates and, dare I say, it can become a lot to deal with. Like an overflowing garbage can, we become so full of the old there is no room for new.
Some people go out and get a bigger “garbage can”. Yet, is becoming more and more conditioned to all of that really the answer?
So, what do we do?
Over the years, one of the most effective tools I have found is: forgiveness.
When I grew up, people talked about forgiveness. My erroneous understanding was that it let the other person or me “off the hook” for something we’d done. I have no idea where that idea came from, yet from conversations with others, it appears to be a widespread belief.
The Course in Miracles says that “forgiveness removes a block in me to the awareness of love’s presence”. So, its really about removing the internal blocks in perception. Forgiveness means to give up a current perception or perspective for another.
This sounds simple, yet for many of us who have identified with the pain of an experience, it will take some effort and perhaps support. And, there are a number of tools we can use. One tool I’ve found particularly effective is the Dalai Lama’s Loving Kindness “meditation”.
Forgiveness engenders understanding and healing. It is part of the cleansing required in this finite world in which we find ourselves. We clean our physical bodies regularly, and can add this to our daily routine. By cleansing some of the old thought patterns, we have room for the new. More importantly, in my view, deciding to forgive and healing old hurts frees our energy. It offers a fresh opportunity to awaken to more of who we truly are, and our purpose here.
We are much more than these physical bodies. We know this and can tune into an experience of aliveness at any time. This is where we are sourced. No forgiveness is required “there” because we are beyond the attacks, the pain, the struggle, sorrow, grief, betrayal and all that the finite produces.
So, what are the situations, ideas, experiences and people that, when you think of them, you feel distress or they “aren’t safe to walk down the streets of your mind”? Are you willing to free your self so you can begin to live the life for which you were intended?
If so, and you’d like some support, click here to contact me.
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2019