In this most likely last decade of my life I find myself spending a lot of time ruminating about the past. Mostly recollecting painful and hurtful events. And when I experience now something that feels like a past painful event the present event is even more distressing. It seems to be the cumulation of all that I have experienced in the past, and in spades.
In an effort to understand this and “conquer” the bad feelings, I went back to my trusted Guru, Jack Kornfield. In his Meditation for Beginners he has a Forgiveness Meditation. He says that in forgiving others, as well as ourselves we can release the past and start life anew again. Without forgiveness we are left with “who did what to whom” repeating the cycle over and over.
Among other things Kornfield points out that when we forgive we simply choose not to carry the hate inside us any longer because we realize that it is poisoning us.
Namaste!
January 29, 2012 at 8:42 am |
What a great read! Thanks for sharing.