If you truly love yourself, you will open a wondrous door—the door of forgiveness.
Because only when you love yourself can you forgive the most important person who needs forgiveness.
That person is none other than you.
The most important person in your life is often the one you neglect the longest. You may love the whole world yet be harder on yourself than on anyone else.
When you hate someone, you are also hating yourself—hating that you let it happen, hating that you did not protect yourself. You and the other person “co-created” the situation that hurt you. Without your “permission,” nobody can make you suffer. But when you are not ready to face this truth, you shift responsibility onto others to feel more comfortable.
But the truth remains.
Forgiveness is not forcing yourself to “just forget” or gritting your teeth and enduring. It is a mindful journey, arising not from compulsion but from love.
If you merely force yourself to forgive because you think ‘forgiveness is good,’ you will forgive mechanically while the hurt within continues to simmer and surge. That is not genuine forgiveness.
True forgiveness happens when you let love fill your heart, when you pause, return, and embrace yourself fully with gentleness.
Practices such as Radiant Love in Awakening Meditation will bring you back to your heart, connecting you with the energy of compassion and love. When you truly touch love, you will find there is nothing left to ‘forgive’—everything naturally resolves. No more suppression. No more straining. Your mind is like a stream of cool water, washing everything away.
Then love replaces hatred. Your heart feels weightless. The burden you carried for so long seems to dissolve. You smile, look toward the future and feel truly free—free from old wounds and longstanding attachments to the self.
You truly live. And you say to life:
“Hello, I am ready to love!”
Forgiveness begins with forgiving yourself. It is the most beautiful gift you can give yourself.
Day 11/21 of Sowers of Peace
