Forgiveness: A Path to Self-Healing – NaPodPoMo

In today’s episode of Self Powered Healing, I’m going to be talking about forgiveness and how it can actually help with healing. I recently shared a quote from Louise Hay that I’m going to repeat here. She says:

“We create every so called illness in our body.
Resentment, criticism, and guilt are the most damaging patterns.
Releasing resentment will dissolve even cancer.
We must release the past and forgive everyone.”

According to “The Course in Miracles,” all dis-ease comes from a state of unforgiveness. It states that whenever we are ill, we need to look around to see who it is that we need to forgive. In her book, “You Can Heal Your Life,” Louise Hay further suggests that “the very person you find it hardest to forgive is the one you need to let go of the most. Forgiveness means giving up, letting go. It has nothing to do with condoning behavior.”

Louise also says, “We do not have to know how to forgive. We just need to be willing to forgive.”

When we forgive, we are letting go of all those negative emotions–emotions that can keep us anxious and in that fight flight mode. By forgiving, we turn off that fight flight mode, enabling our body’s healing abilities.

Are you familiar with Ho’oponopono?

It’s an ancient Hawaiian forgiveness technique and self-healing practice. It is believed to heal the body, and the mind by freeing the Self from the burden of problems, anger, hatred, frustration, sadness, illness, jealousy, intolerance. By removing their negative effects, everything that is not love is removed. It’s a chant:

I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.
I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.

Sometimes we will refuse to forgive someone because we believe they don’t deserve it. But who is that hurting, really? The other person might not even be aware of your feelings, may not even care. When we forgive, we let go of the resentment or hatred or anger that we are feeling. We are not condoning someone’s actions. In fact, I don’t believe we even have to tell them we’ve forgiven them. We just let it go, freeing ourselves from the negative emotions.

I saw this quote recently from Jonathan Lockwood Huie that says the same thing succinctly,

“Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.”

How do you know who to forgive? It might seem easy when you think of those who have clearly wronged you, but are there others?

I believe when we’ve judged people, we may not think we harbor resentment, but sometimes we do. I know I judged my own parents for years for the way they raised me, things that were done and things that were not done, things they just didn’t teach me.

Until one day, I saw that they were only human. I think I had them on a pedestal because they were my parents, even though I don’t believe in putting anyone on a pedestal, because they always fall off. When I saw that my parents were only human, just like the rest of us, when I realized that they were doing the best they could with what they knew, it was then that I forgave them for everything.

We are often hardest on ourselves, judging everything we think, do, and say. We hold ourselves, at times, to a standard we would never dream of holding our family or friends. And that means we need to forgive ourselves.

Louise Hay says this, “When we really love and accept and approve of ourselves exactly as we are, then everything in life works.” And that makes sense. I believe we have to forgive ourselves in order to love and accept and approve of ourselves.

Who will you forgive today?

I think I’ll take Louise Hay’s suggestion and start with that person I find it hardest to forgive.

Thanks for listening today. You can visit SelfPoweredHealing.com/november2024 to find all the episodes for NaPodPoMo. Leave a comment too, if you like. Thank you to all that have been a part of this 30 day challenge. Beginning in December, I’ll be returning to my less intense schedule, publishing three episodes each month, at least. I also will have more healing stories coming up.

Stay tuned.

By the way, Self Powered Healing is still looking for interviews with people who want to share a story of healing. Do you have a healing story? I would love to hear about it and see if maybe you could share it on our show. So if you’re interested in sharing, then visit selfpoweredhealing.com/share to schedule a chat.  

You aren’t committing at this point. You’re just having a chat with me to see what’s going on. It will be confidential unless or until you decide you want to share. And if you get there and there’s not a convenient time for you, send me a message because we’ll always find a time.  

And remember this always,  