And I'm Thinking About Forgiveness.

            Forgiveness is paramount to almost all other things in our lives when we come to the Holy of Holies to pray and meditate. If we take the advice of Jesus, our hearts should be emptied of unforgiveness before we enter heaven to fill our lives and our bodies with peace. How to achieve that is a good question.

            Forgiveness and unforgiveness rests in the heart area of the body, between the throat (the decision maker and the voice) and the belly, which is the area of the body that is the self esteem. Just below the belly we have another area of the body that holds the energy of relationships (to others, to our jobs, to things).

            So to get from our bellies and below out of our mouths to speak, we have to pass through the most precious area of the body--the heart. If the heart is not pure and settled, then none of the body is pure. Because "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."

            So, today I want you to focus in on your heart. See if you have been wasting energy thinking about someone or something that has upset you or caused you to feel unforgiveness. If you have thought about it more than once in a day, it has become an issue and needs to be expunged.

            Unforgiveness energy hurts only one person—YOU. The other person doesn't even feel anything that you are feeling. In fact, that person may not even know you are having an issue with him/her. So, what you wrestle with needs to begin and end with your own thinking. (Yes, it may mean confronting the individual, but your heart must be dealt with first.)

            Get inside your secret place and ask yourself, "Do I really know if this person maliciously did what he or she did on purpose to hurt me?" And if the answer is yes, then ask yourself, if that was the best that this person could do, given who he or she is and how he or she was raised. What you are trying to do is increase your level of compassion. Because compassion brings forgiveness.

            I'm not suggesting that forgiveness means that you take down well-constructed boundaries in your life. NO! Leave them up. Just forgive. You don't need bad energy in your life or people who treat you with disrespect. Leave the boundaries high and strong. Just forgive. 

            And you will be free. Because my concern, my dear friend, is that your soul and heart need to have be free of the negative bonds and ties that unforgiveness brings to your life. 

            Try it and see.