Lessons from Shiloh … Forgiveness

How easy is it for you to forgive?  Forgive others?  Forgive yourself? Forgive the unforgivable?

The other day I saw Shiloh in our backyard with something in her mouth.  When she saw me, she dropped it.  As I got closer I saw that it was a dove.  She was just holding it and not biting hard because the bird was ok.  Shiloh’s reaction really struck me, she laid on the ground and put her head down.  Acting as if she was ashamed and sorry.

She got me thinking about forgiveness…

How easy is it for you to forgive someone who you feel did you wrong or didn’t treat you the way they should have treated you?

How easy is it for you to forgive yourself for the mistakes you have made, whether you hurt someone or made a bad choice in your life?  

I think it starts with self-forgiveness because you can’t give away what you don’t have.

There is a great quote by Mark Twain…Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds upon the heel that crushed it.  I don’t think writing gets any better than that!

This came to mind when I saw the look on Shiloh’s face and of course I forgave her, she is just doing what dogs do.  I thought, am I able to forgive myself for the mistakes I have made and am I able to forgive other people.

Forgiveness is an act of the heart.  It’s not about condoning or accepting someone back into your life that doesn’t deserve to be there.  It’s about letting go…the past is the past…it’s the facts…it’s what happened.  It’s the letting go, saying I’m sorry and opening your heart to forgive, which has nothing to do with the other person deserving it.  Forgiveness is an act that serves you, so you can move on and live the life that you are meant to live.

How easy is it to forgive the unforgivable?  I’m shooting this a couple days after the Paris bombings and it really got me thinking about this.  Every religious and spiritual text talks about forgiveness, compassion and not harboring resentments, because it only hurts you.  Jesus on the cross, said, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

I have been trying to send that energy out to the perpetrators, the bombers, the terrorist…as hard as that can be.  Piling on more hate, revenge, shame, blame and those low energy emotions will not raise the consciousness of this planet…it’s not going to shift whatever is making this happen.

We have to stand up and send them love and compassion and pray for them as well as pray for those who lost their lives and were injured.  I know that can be extremely challenging.  I’m trying to do it in my own life and there are no easy answers.  I think the only way is to shed light where there is darkness and bring love where there is hate.  This higher level consciousness is the way it will shift.

I have asked myself over the past couple days…How can I be more Christ-like, Buddha-like, Gandhi-like, Mother Theresa-like?  Can I rise above my own anger and judgments and move my thoughts out of the physical world and into the world of spirit?

That’s my message today and not sure how that lands for you.  I do think it starts with the everyday things; how you react when someone cuts you off in traffic or the ability to be kind to the cashier in the grocery store, who may be a little snarky.  It starts in your own back yard, to raise up the vibration and send out the energy of love, kindness and compassion.

So that’s my message today and I know it can be a tough one but if you can forgive yourself first, forgive others who have hurt you and send forgiveness out into the world, where it is so needed, I think that will make all the difference.