Learning to forgive

Below is an excerpt from a guided meditation I am working on on forgiveness.  Sometimes it is best to forgive from afar. Sometimes it is best to forgive up close.  Allow the heart to forgive and wisdom to guide you in appropriate relating.

“We must all learn to forgive. There is no one on the earth who hasn’t felt hurt, betrayed, and disappointed at times. It is up to each one of us to decide how we will respond to the various hurts and disappointments that we will encounter. Will we respond with anger? Will we respond with an eye for an eye? Or will we learn to respond with love, with light, with compassion, and with understanding. The choice is ours. One choice keeps us locked in a world of competition, of anger, and a world where there is no peace. The other choice, the choice of forgiveness offers another way. It brings us into a world of peace, of compassion, of love, of forgiveness, and of healing.

What is the world you wish to live in?

Begin the practice today of offering forgiveness both to yourself and to others. Forgive so that you can feel peace. Forgive so that you can feel expansion. Forgive so that you can feel love and light. And forgive so that you can step into an elevated awareness and can be a force of good in the world. Forgive so that you can be an agent for peace on the planet. There is a cloud of anger and unrest that fills your world. Forgive so that you can begin the process of dispelling that cloud and bring peace to the earth. Let this process begin with you. It is easy to wait and want others to go first. Especially if you feel that you were wronged. Be willing to take the high road. Be willing to forgive first. Be willing to lead the way. The world needs spiritual leaders. To be a leader in this way you must be willing to lead in love and light and compassion and understanding. You must be willing to go first and you must be willing to hold these spiritual principles even if you hold them alone. And so do this for yourself and do this for your world. Practice forgiveness daily. Let this be a process for the act of forgiving often takes time and repetition.

And so forgive daily and step into an elevated awareness. Step into an elevated point of view. Step into your radiance. Step into your light. Step into your love. Step into your compassion. Step into the person that you were meant to be. Step into the highest version of yourself. Step into the life that you were meant to lead.

At your core you are a radiant being of light and love and compassion and understanding. Step into this elevated version of yourself and be a true force for good on the planet. This role is a big responsibility and takes vigilance and discipline of the mind and body. Begin your endeavor today.

See yourself as a being of light and affirm:

I am a radiant being of light.
I am a radiant being of love.
I am a radiant being of understanding.
I am a radiant being of compassion.

I radiate light.
I radiate love.
I radiate compassion.
I radiate understanding.

This is my daily practice and this is my daily discipline.

I offer light.
I offer love.
I offer compassion.
I offer understanding.

Sometimes I offer this from afar and sometimes I offer this up close.

I am a healing force in the world and all who come into my presence are healed.

I am a radiant being of light.
I am a radiant being of light.
I am a radiant being of light.

~Hayley Mermelstein

c.2014