The Miracle Of Forgiveness

by Ann Holdreith

All healing has forgiveness as its final destination.

When we arrive at forgiveness, we heal at our core. Fear condemns and love forgives. Forgiveness undoes fear and returns us to love. The grievances we hold in our heart block the light of our true nature. When we hold onto grievances we block our own love and thus the flow of Divine love, for our true nature is divine. When we forgive someone for a wrong that was committed against us we are actually forgiving ourselves. We release ourselves from the perception of pain and wrong-doing we hold inside. Pain is an illusion in that it represents how we have turned away from our true nature, which is love. When we remain connected to love and grace, we know that no one can truly harm us. We release ourselves from judgment, for judgment against another is ultimately judgment against self. We forgive ourselves for having turned away from the core of our love. No one can take us away from our love or God’s love. We are the creators of our perceptions and love is the truth that shatters all illusion. There are only two emotions, love and fear. Fear is a plea for love. So in reality, there is only love.

When we release our grievances and forgive, we change the inner perceptions that create our outer world.

Forgiveness does not mean excusing or accepting a wrong that was done to us. Rather it means releasing the perceived perpetrator from our judgment. We forgive the being, not the act. This allows us to release the outer action and come to forgiveness of the suffering and judgment we hold within. When we forgive another being, we are taking responsibility for our perceptions. We free ourselves from the illusion of separation and claim that what we give is given to us. As we forgive our perceptions of our outer world, we heal our inner world. We forgive ourselves and in so doing, return to love. We remember that we are part of God and God is within. A Course in Miracles states: “God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him. God is the light in which I see. God is the mind with which I think. God is the love in which I forgive.”

God does not need to forgive because He does not condemn. Forgiveness is only necessary when there is condemnation. When we forgive, we release our self from condemnation and return to love. God’s love sustains us. When we forgive, we re-unite with the still voice inside that knows we are love and part of God. This voice is more real than all pain and suffering. This voice can heal all pain and suffering.

The forgiveness process is ongoing and may unfold in stages in our lives. We may think we have forgiven a person, our selves or a situation only to have the issue resurface from a deeper level that is asking for healing. The journey of wholeness and spiritual healing is a spiral that continually goes deeper in its transformation. Many of us have worked diligently to forgive our parents and grievances from childhood. At a young age, we did not have the resources to protect ourselves in situations that created trauma or seemed to take our power. But as adults, we have many resources. We can care for ourselves and restore the parts longing for wholeness. We do not have to keep giving our power to the past. Love is the path to wholeness. With wholeness, forgiveness is automatic. We only hold on to grievances when we remain locked in feelings of disempowerment. When we restore the parts of us that feel overwhelmed and powerless to wholeness there is nothing to forgive.

If forgiveness seems beyond us, grace can heal our mind and restore us to the clarity and strength that is beyond all suffering. Love and grace can heal anything. A call for grace makes it easier to embrace our own love for we return to knowing God’s love. We return to a place deep within that is beyond all circumstance. We return to a knowing beyond the fear of our mind. We return to our core, which is love. When we know that we are part of God, we accept that we are holy. Our holiness does not hold on to grievance or conflict. A Course in Miracles states: “Love holds no grievances. Let me not betray my self.”

There is always the next opportunity to choose love. Love is all that really matters. There is nothing that love cannot heal, nothing that does not thrive when given love. It is simple. We choose love.

Opening the way for Forgiveness

It is often difficult for us to forgive a circumstance or person because we carry an inner wound that we have attached to the person or event. In actuality, the wound is our own creation. The initial trauma created the wound but our belief or perception about it keeps the wound alive. It is the way we hold on to our perception that keeps the wound open and painful. When we heal the wound, there is nothing to forgive. We automatically let go of the grievance for there is no longer any pain attached to it. There is much we can do to heal our wounds. Having techniques that get to the root of the pain and re-create their memory and underlying beliefs into a positive experience heals and opens the way for forgiveness. Calling for grace and the miracle of Divine intervention makes all techniques more powerful.

Healing our Wounds

Begin this process by taking yourself into a deeply relaxed, yet focused state. Pray and ask for the guidance and support of God and your own deep self. Your deep self is part of God and has wisdom beyond your rational mind and waking consciousness. Call for your deep self to come and assist you in your forgiveness process.

Ask your deep self to communicate with you and reveal what wound, hurt or barrier is ready to heal. Relax and let images, words and feelings spontaneously arise.

You may be guided to a specific memory or feeling. Ask for the part of you associated with the memory or feeling to be present. Ask this part how old it is. Ask it how it has served you all these years. The part will tell you. Listen, trust and be open.

Become the all-loving parent who accepts this part exactly as it is. Forgive it. Thank it for trying to help you all these years. Don’t move forward until you feel genuine about accepting and forgiving this part.

Now ask the part what it needs. It will tell you. As an adult with many life experiences you have inner resources that can nurture and give your unhealed parts what they need.

Feel, see and hear yourself giving the part what it needs. It may need to be held or listened to or told it is OK. Just listen, the part will tell you exactly what it needs. You can fulfill its needs. You may also call upon your Higher Power in whatever form it is that supports you in giving the part what it needs. You may do this with imagery, words and feelings. (For example you may picture, Christ, Buddha or whatever represents Divine love holding and embracing the part that is longing for healing.)

Let this process go on for as long as is necessary until the part feels whole and filled with what it needs. Continue until you feel it restored to its essence of beauty, innocence and strength. Then place this part in front of you and breathe it in its fullness and beauty into your body.

The healing will integrate over the next several days. Continue to give unconditional love and acceptance to this part. See and feel it returned to its essence of pure love, returned to its true strength and integrity. You are returning to the wholeness and joy that was available before the trauma and wound. The wound is only a covering. The essence of beauty and love remains in all parts of us.

God bless all parts of us. Holy Spirit fill all aspects that long for the healing of Your deepest love. Amen.

The above excerpt is taken from the book Fire Seed (a work in progress).

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Ann Holdreith leads Fire Seed workshops to open the passion of the Authentic Self. She offers private healing sessions that combine Reiki, Metaphor Therapy and life coaching. She is a professional artist, poet and innovation consultant. he can be reached at (248) 583-7765 or email  aholdreith@aol.com