Ok all you forgiveness lovers, here is our favorite reason to love forgiveness – 

Forgiveness is Sexy!

Think about it for a moment ….

Relationship problems can almost always be traced to emotional issues that cause us, often unconsciously, to push people away and create barriers to fulfilling intimacy. Dissolving these barriers and healing our deepest wounds is what forgiveness is all about. 

Without forgiveness we hang on to our painful past. We feel angry, resentful, bitter, depressed, closed down. We complain and blame, and judge the other person and ourselves. Depending on our personality, we lash out or withdraw. Either way, none of this is very sexy, right?

On the other hand, forgiveness brings you into the present moment where you can reconnect with your true self and shine your light brightly. Forgiveness enables you to embody self-love and wholeness, standing in the flow of love.

Ulysses Slaughter, a forgiveness teacher from Philadelphia, nails it: “Forgiveness is sexy because it creates magnetism, a powerful force that draws people to you.”  

It may not happen overnight, but when you walk the path of forgiveness, you experience gradual shifts. First you notice you  have less unhappiness and suffering. Then one day you find yourself feeling happy –  a sense of inner peace and contentment – maybe for the first time. After that, you discover joy and moments of bliss. And, you want nothing more than to share this with others. 

Is forgiveness sexy? You bet! I’m not saying this is the only reason to forgive, but it’s certainly icing on the cake!

Speaking of cake …. for Michael’s birthday, I decided to create a “Forgiveness is Sexy” T-Shirt for him.  Then, some of the folks at Esalen wanted them, so we made more … we’ll be selling them while supplies last. To get yours, use the link in the right-hand column to order!

Use your break-up to wake-up!

If you do, someday you will be grateful for your broken heart.

Seems like an outlandish think to say, doesn’t it?

The loss of a relationship can be one of the most painful experiences, that leaves us feeling dazed and heartbroken, with a thousand questions left unanswered. What if I had ….? Why did he ….?  Why didn’t she?

We probably experienced more love with this person than we had ever felt before. And now suddenly, they are gone.

You replay events over and over in your head, wondering how and why you ended up here. You start to question yourself. It must have been my fault …. There must be something wrong with me …. Maybe I really am unlovable …. Your hopes and dreams are lost at sea, drowned out by endless waves of anger, sadness, despair, fear and depression.

If your heart has ever been crushed, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The loss feels devastating. And sometimes we get stuck here, feeling the sorrow for years, unable to move forward.

Consider the possibility that your break up might just be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Here’s the thing – your heartache is showing you the emptiness and pain that live in your heart, pain that has probably been there for a long time. This gives you a life-changing opportunity.

Now you have the opportunity to heal your heart at a profound level.

You may not know how to do that, but you can learn – anyone can. The Path of Forgiveness is dedicated to teaching people how to do this, step by step. 

It’s a choice – it’s up to you. But I promise you this. If you follow the path of forgiveness, you will discover more love than ever before.

So let your break-up be a wake-up. It is time to heal your heart!

After being in a self-imposed news blackout for many years, I recently decided to start reading the paper again. Oy. Things are really messed up out there!

I see it every day in the news and I’m sure you do too. Terrorism. Suicide bombers. Mass shootings. War. Violence. Sexual predators. Human trafficking. Corrupt politicians. Greedy corporations.  

And then there are the folks ranting about how awful things are, inevitably pointing fingers and assigning blame. Then come the usual “solutions” — like passing more laws, harsher penalties, etc. As if …. Sure we can pass more laws, put more people in prisons, torture more terrorists and even kill more people. I guarantee you nothing will change as a result.

I also know nothing will change as long as we tell ourselves we are powerless.

Are you willing to consider the possibility that we
have the collective power to change things? 

As Nelson Mandela famously said “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” He should know. Mandela went from being a maligned political prisoner for 27 years to becoming the first democratically elected President of South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and global hero. He helped bring about the ending of apartheid, which I’m sure seemed impossible to many.

I think about my forgiveness clients – courageous souls who are healing their hearts using the power of forgiveness. I am reminded that so much (maybe all) of the wounding starts in childhood. Is it possible that unhealed hearts are the root of all evil?  

I’m starting to believe healing the world must start with healing our hearts. Someone with a healed heart does not destroy the environment, intentionally hurt others, ignore the plight of others who are suffering, or harm children – their own or anyone else’s.

And this is what forgiveness boils down to. Forgiveness is the means by which we heal our hearts. It allows us to return to love, no matter what has happened. 

If you want to make a difference, here are a couple of ideas.

Use the power of thought. As Wayne Dyer said: “If you can conceive it in your mind, then it can be brought into the physical world.” Let’s envision a world in which humans everywhere feel whole and connected to love.

Be the change. Commit to healing your own heart. Practice forgiveness. Reconnect with love. Cultivate self-love, gratitude and kindness. 

Here is a wonderful pearl of Taoist wisdom from author Derek Lin:

I’d like to share a teaching from Deepak Chopra that was forwarded to me by Michael Gelbart. Chopra says forgiveness is often thought of as the domain of saints and religion, but needs to be brought down to earth for everyone:

To begin with, forgiveness comes at the end of a process, not at the beginning. In order to forgive yourself or another person, three obstacles must be overcome. Let’s call them the three dragons of judgment, anger, and blame. Each has had powerful effects in everyone’s life. Millions of people feel justified in clinging to their own dragons, and it takes conviction to realize that nothing about judgment, anger, and blame actually serves anyone’s self-interest.

Chopra encourages us to move beyond the three dragons and become “units of peace” by walking the path of forgiveness.  He offers these practical steps for doing so:

A Path to Forgiveness – 7 Key Steps

• Find your own peace through meditation, yoga, or other contemplative   practice.
• Renounce the illusion that you can change someone else’s morality or worldview.
• Know that you can do more to change the world by who you are than by anything you can say or teach.
• Take responsibility for nonviolence in your speech and actions.
• Address the issues of judgment, blame, and anger in yourself.
• Associate with like-minded people who are committed to peace and forgiveness.
• Adopt a vision of the highest possibilities for humankind.

For more elaboration, I encourage you to read Chopra’s article here.  He has more to say about the dragons and shares a video on self-forgiveness as well.

I hope this season brings warmth and cheer to your heart. Please be gentle and loving with yourself, especially if you are struggling in any way. May the New Year bring more light and more love into your life and those around you.

Why is it that the people we love most are often the most challenging for us?  Even after years of therapy and personal growth work, conflict with family members often leaves a toxic residue in our lives. Whether the conflict involves a parent, sibling, child or other relative, as we try to move forward in our lives, we find our family baggage weighs us down.  It becomes a heavy burden, sabotaging other relationships and depriving us of the happiness we seek. 

Heading into the holidays, the prospect of family gatherings often triggers contraction or even dread, and it is common for anger and resentment to resurface. There are many strategies out there for coping with difficult family members during the holidays, but wouldn’t you rather be truly free of your family baggage for once and for all? It is possible – through forgiveness.  

You might be thinking — “Why should I forgive when the other person is to blame?”  While understandable, don’t forget: Forgiveness isn’t for the other person’s benefit. It’s for yours.  And it doesn’t mean you are condoning or excusing their poor behavior. Nor does it require you to minimize your hurt. 

Or maybe your concern is that the other person really isn’t trustworthy. So why should you forgive and reopen yourself to further hurt?  Here again, there is often a misconception.  Forgiveness does not mean reconciliation. It does not mean you forget what occurred. If you need to protect yourself with boundaries or distance, you can and should.

Forgiveness simply means you are no longer willing to carry the emotional baggage of anger and resentment. And make no mistake, that baggage is toxic. Anger, resentment and hatred hurt you far more than the other person. By forgiving, you are choosing to release these self-poisoning emotions for your own well-being.

Why not check your family baggage for once and for all – before the holidays? This means grievances, resentments, gripes, blame/shame. All of it.  

No matter how challenging the relationship, forgiveness is the one thing that can transform your relationship with your family. You can’t change them, but you can change yourself, including the way you see the situation, think about the situation and feel about the situation.  You can free yourself from the past baggage and reclaim inner peace and happiness.

I encourage you to give yourself this gift.  If you want to forgive, yet there is something standing in your way, what is it?  Drop me a line, I’d love to hear from you.

On November 12, I’ll be offering an evening program on this topic at the Sunrise Center in Corte Madera, CA.  Hope to see some of you there! 

This is a terrific article by Nick Polizzi entitled “A Well-Traveled Path to Inner Peace” – too good not to share:

The word below has been hailed in just about every major spiritual text, it is the centerpiece of hundreds of songs (rock, folk, and even opera), and if used properly, it can create almost immediate transformation in your life.

The word is forgiveness.

Over the past month I’ve had the honor of meeting with a few people who miraculously healed themselves of serious illness. In these conversations, 
one word has come up repeatedly as being the secret to their recovery. You guessed it.

We learn about forgiving others when we’re young, but somehow when we get older and more set in our ways, this simple act can become elusive. Life is funny that way, right?  Often when we find ourselves in a life “predicament”, we just need to revisit the basic travel tips that were laid out for us early on.

“To err is human, to forgive divine.” – Alexander Pope

What is actually happening during this godly act? One thing is for sure, we are doing the unthinkable. We are defying every impulse that has led us to associate an individual with pain and suffering. Rather than continuing a tempting pattern, we are hitting the reverse switch and flooding unconditional love and compassion back into the equation.

Unconditional love and compassion. These three power words feel so right, but sometimes it’s hard to find a cut and dried, no B.S. way to work them into our reality. When we’ve made a decision about someone after they’ve broken our trust, it can be very difficult to overturn our initial ruling and do the opposite.

A backdoor approach that helps us get around the ego and be less rigid is a regular forgiveness practice. This is absolutely critical if you are trying to recover from an illness naturally.

Wisdom of the ages

Whether you’re talking to an Amazonian shaman, a bush medicine woman from the Caribbean or a granny healer from North Carolina, they’ll most likely tell you that herbs, prayers, and energy techniques are only part of the healing picture.

My friend Christine, a granny healer from North Carolina, pretty much summed it up last week when we were talking about a few cancer patients she was helping. She is too humble to tell most people this, but Christine has helped a number of folks heal their cancer naturally over the past few decades. Many of them would tell you they owe her their lives.

According to her, “The herbs and other interventions won’t do a lick of good if the patient doesn’t have their life right.  All the natural medicine in the world can’t undo a toxic relationship with another or one with yourself.”

Her first prescription for her patients is a daily forgiveness practice.

“Sometimes we must do the unthinkable if we are to experience the impossible.” 

It is a common shamanic understanding that spiritual and energetic blocks are what lie at the center of disease.  If this is the case, then consider your grudges and resentments to be the bricks and mortar of these walls of inner stagnation. The fastest way to dissolve them and begin recirculating life force is through forgiveness.

The biggest misconception around the term forgive is that this act is mainly benefitting the “offender”. “He insulted me and I was angry, but you know it’s been a long time and he’s learned his lesson, so I guess I’ll forgive him.”  In this context, forgiveness is considered a sacrifice we make to take the moral high road.

But what about the benefit to us, the “offended”, who have been wasting countless hours stewing, fearing, belaboring, plotting, regretting – all sour mental activities that do not lead to a harmonious existence?

Like a rising tide, forgiveness floats all ships, including our own. And we all know someone, whether friend or foe, who is ripe for a pardon.

Forgiving ain’t easy.  Sometimes it can feel darn near impossible. Our rational mind has a set of black and white rules accompanied by some absolute no-fly-zones. When these boundaries are violated, it can be hard for us to lower the drawbridge again.

This is the real work.  No smoke and mirrors or fancy candlelit ceremonies – just you and your truth.

If you are to truly thrive in this life, grudges and resentment have no place in your spiritual or physical organism. There is a reason this is spoken about in every major religion on earth – our health, happiness, and the well being of our cherished loved ones depend on it.

So where to start?

Below is a very simple forgiveness practice that you can try right now.  If it moves you, keep it in your back pocket for regular use.  But most importantly, find some way to integrate forgiveness for yourself and others into your spirit path.  For those of you that already do this actively, a gentle reminder never hurt anyone, now did it? 

A simple forgiveness practice:

Polizzi is the Director of the Sacred Science Institute which offers “Healing Knowedge for the Strong of Heart.” Thanks to Lulu Perrault for sending this.

Who among us does not need to forgive one or both of our parents? Forgiving our mothers and fathers, and healing our own core wounds, is essential, foundational work for all of us.

Look At Us Now Mother is an award-winning film in which filmmaker Gayle Kirschenbaum shares her own courageous journey of forgiveness with her mother. Each time this film is shown, it receives rave reviews and more importantly, helps viewers find the impulse to forgive within themselves.  

The Path of Forgiveness is happy to be partnering with Gayle to spread the word about this film and support her mission of helping others forgive and heal. I believe this is a personal documentary that can help millions of people. 

Gayle is currently raising money through a Kickstarter campaign so the film can be widely distributed. She needs the support of those of us who care about forgiveness. I encourage you to watch two short video clips. One explains the Kickstarter campaign and the other is the official trailer for the film.

Please contribute if you can and share this message with others!