I’m working on letting go of my grievances. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. It helps me to remember that what I claim in others, I strengthen in myself. And it helps to ask myself what do I want to be strengthening in myself?
I had a forgiveness opportunity recently. Someone was getting on my nerves, and I could not stop thinking about it. It felt like this person’s beliefs were impending on my own. I knew I had chosen wrongly, because I was stressed about someone else’s beliefs. And as much as I did not want to admit it, I knew this situation represented a lesson I needed to deeply learn.
There was still a big part of me that wanted to claim myself as a victim of this situation. But there was also a different voice available to me. I have been deeply studying A Course in Miracles lately, and that day I was on the lesson, “Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation” (W-P1.72).
Whoa.
I could not ignore it. God’s plan for me did not include holding grievances against this person. In fact, holding grievances against this person was an attack on God’s plan for my salvation. Forgiveness must be worth it.
You can watch the video below and/or keep reading!
A Course in Miracles is not playing around. It literally says that forgiveness is the key to happiness. Notice that forgiveness is within you, and that is where your key to happiness lies, within. The ego does NOT want us to remember this. The ego wants to distract us from this Truth with it’s constant projection of guilt as something that lies out there in the world.
“Look there! Look out there!” says the ego. “That is where the key to your unhappiness lies!”
Below are just a few quotes from A Course in Miracles about forgiveness:
“The unforgiving mind is in despair, without the prospect of a future which can offer anything but more despair. Yet it regards its judgment of the world as irreversible, and does not see it has condemned itself to despair. It thinks it cannot change, for what it sees bears witness that its judgment is correct. It does not ask, because it thinks it knows. It does not question, certain it is right.” (W-p1.121.5:1)
“Forgiveness is the key to happiness. I will awaken from the dream that I am mortal, fallible and full of sin, and know I am the perfect Son of God.” (W-p1.121.13:6)
“He (The Holy Spirit) will teach you to remember that forgiveness is not loss, but your salvation.” (T-15.VIII.1:6)
Okay, if forgiveness is literally the key to happiness, where do we begin?
Start with forgiving the “minor” things. Wake up and see your daily life as fillled with lessons. Your life is your curriculum. Start with seeing Light around those who bug you. If you decide that forgiveness is the way, trust this decision. Allow The Holy Spirit to guide you, especially when forgiveness feels hard or even impossible. If there is someone in your life about whom you complain, start there.
A Course in Miracles makes no level distinctions, but we do need to acknowledge there are level distinctions in this world. Most of our forgiveness lessons come from daily annoyances and our unfair judgments of others. Most of our unhappiness and suffering is self-inflicted. Of course if you were victimized in a bigger way, these are deeper lessons, and forgiveness in these instances can take more time. In instances where you are unsafe, sometimes staying angry for a while can help you make changes in your life situation and keep you safe. If you are epxeriencing a situation where you are not yet ready for forgiveness, please know this is okay too. Start with the smaller lessons, and always seek professional help if necessary.
You can forgive and say no. You can forgive and have boundaries. You can forgive while at the same time taking back the keys to your house and locking the door.
The mystic, Neville Goddard, who has gained a huge following based in his teachings of the “law of assumption” also speaks of forgiveness in so many words.
The following are exceprts from his book, “At Your Command”:
“Concsciousness, being God, if you hold in consciousness anything against man, you are binding that condition in your world.”
He is saying to let go and forgive, so you are no longer holding that energy in your consciousness. Forgiveness really and truly is for you. Forgiveness helps to make your future different from your past.
“So you do not have to bother yourself about seeing whether or not man gets what you consider he should get. For life makes no mistakes and always gives man that which man first giveth himself”
Neville is basically saying that it is not your job to make sure others get what they deserve. Trust God. Know that life “makes no mistakes”.
Your consciousness is your job, and that is it. What do you want to hold in your concsiousness?
In her book, Heaven is Now, Cindy Lora-Renard talks about forgiveness as “to go beyond”. I love this definition. You look beyond the situation. You become bigger than it. It does not have to drain you anymore. You become the solution. You ARE the solution.
How does it feel to become bigger than any temporary situation in your life? You are The Universe. Nothing that is not of God can affect you. This is true Power.
Cindy also says, “The more we forgive the more we may be shifting dimensions of time in which a gentler scenario might play out, or we react to a similar situation with peace instead of fear. That makes all the difference.”
Your peace holds limitless power. Your forgiveness can literally change your world. Remember the world you see is a mirror. If you change what you are holding, the world will have to reflect it back to you.
Eckhart Tolle calls forgiveness “non-reaction”. In his book A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle says “To forgive is to overlook, or rather to look through. You look through the ego to the sanity that is in every human being as his or her essence.”
Do you find yourself reading this thinking of scenarios that would be impossible to forgive? That is the ego speaking up trying to claim it’s truth. It’s easy to think of things that have happened to others that would be seemingly impossible to forgive. There are also forgiveness stories of people forgiving seemingly impossible things. But don’t go into other’s forgiveness stories. Stick with your own. Don’t make forgiveness just a concept in your mind. Make it an experience in your daily life. Test it out. Like I said earlier, start with the daily annoyances and inconveniences. See how you feel when you forgive your perception of annoying people. Or forgive your body for not looking the way you think it should. Ask The Holy Spirit to help you change your mind about the things you see.
Eckhart Tolle also talks about how the ego loves resentment. The ego loves to look at others and judge them by saying how they should or shouldn’t act. The ego “Instead of overlooking unconsciousness in others, makes it into their identity.” Pay close attention when you make definitive negative statements about others. It’s a breeding ground for the ego.
Eckhart Tolle says, “Nonreaction to the ego in others is one of the most effective ways not only of going beyond ego in yourself but also of dissolving the collective human ego.”
So when you forgive, you are doing your part in “dissolving the collective human ego.”
This is no small feat. It’s not always easy, but it is simple. Forgiveness holds the key to your salvation and the salvation of the world. If you want to do your part in world peace, then start with forgiveness in your own life. A Course in Miracles says “Love holds no grievances” (W-p1.68) and you are complete Love at your essence. Anything that is not of God cannot effect you as long you know who you are. You are The Universe, and forgiveness holds the key to unlocking the knowledge of how powerful you truly are.
Love You Always,
Your Fab Spiritual Coach,
Elizabeth
(All quotes are from A Course in Miracles, copyright ©1992, 1999, 2007 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, 448 Ignacio Blvd., #306, Novato, CA 94949, www.acim.org and [email protected], used with permission).
