Forgiveness is the greatest human virtue. Forgiveness is the key to moving beyond your past and unlocking the treasures of the future. It transforms you and moves you into a brand – new world that is beyond your wildest dreams. Love, prosperity, peace… it’s all there for you. All you have to do is reach out and grab it. Forgiveness can change one’s life. It causes things to move fast. It’s hard to move forward if you are constantly looking backward. The anger that you are holding on to is a form of energy that gets bottled up inside you. It becomes twisted and strange, makes you sick and prevents you from moving forward in your life. Soon, the anger is all you can think about and it becomes your entire focus. You live it, breath it, dream it and drink it in, every day. You can stuff it down deep inside yourself, but it’s still there (the anger) quietly like a poisonous snake ready to strike at any time. 

Anger affects your posture, shoulders start to curve and stoop, making one look older than the actual age. The pent-up anger can make you sick without you realizing it. Anger can eat you alive. As the saying goes “To err is human, to forgive is divine”. Holding a grudge does not make you strong; it makes you bitter”. Forgiving others allows you to overcome your anger, to heal spiritual wounds and be set free”. Everyone makes mistakes. The more you forgive people, the more life changes for the better. You begin to see the world in a more positive light. Once you forgive someone, the energy is released and everything begins to flow in the proper direction. It’s like a river that has a dam on it. Remove the dam and the water begins to flow again. Fish, turtles and geese return. That’s forgiveness.

Forgiving is transforming and it offers one a new perspective and a fresh start. It’s a journey that will continue for the rest of one’s life. If you look at the world in a positive way, you will be at peace and your world will be filled with love and prosperity. If you have been struggling to achieve happiness and success, it may interest you to know that lack of forgiving may be the largest barrier in your life-it could be blocking dreams and goals in every area of your life from manifesting. Energy moves when forgiveness is enacted by someone who is sincere about forgiving. In addition to encouraging forgiveness, every religion teaches some form of the Golden Rule. If one were asked to distill the essence of all religions into one sentence, it would be: Love God/higher power, love yourself, forgive others and yourself, be kind to others and yourself, treat others as you would like to be treated. The Golden Rule defined by religions the world over, becomes obvious that we have a lot in common with each other than we have differences. If we embraced this simple rule, taught all over the world, what a lovely place, this world would be and what a difference it would make!

Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful”..Udana-Varga 5:18

Christianity: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: For this is the law and the prophets”..Mathew 7:12

Jesus’ message was to “Love your enemies and forgive those who persecute you”. According to the New Testament, when Jesus was crucified, He forgave His persecutors: “Father, forgive them, for they know not, what they are doing.”

When Jesus forgave his enemies and taught us to do the same, He was trying to convey the idea that there is actual metaphysical power in the act of forgiveness. Jesus taught us through His words and actions. When we forgive we are in reality blocking negative energy (some refer to as evil) and disarming the enemy. Now, that’s power!
We can see that forgiveness is an actual strategy or tactic so powerful, so full of energy, that it cannot only change the lives of individuals, but literally change the world if applied on a large scale.

Jesus taught this law above all others and put it prominently in the “The Lord’s Prayer”, not once but twice. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us” and ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. He knew that all our problems came from our judgements of others and their behaviour.

To sum up on forgiveness – Everyone makes mistakes. If you can’t forgive others, don’t expect others to forgive you.

Mary Pinheiro