Let it go! It’s that time of year again where I keep hearing the song all around me from the film Frozen. Can you believe it was released in November 2013? “Let it go, let it go. Can't hold it back anymore.” The song got me thinking of letting go of anything that doesn't serve me. A resentment, a regret or a grievance. How about you? Are you holding a grudge against someone and could benefit from the gift of forgiveness? Forgiveness has come up in several Focus on WHY episodes. In episode 005, The Art of Social Selling, Sam Rathling took herself on a journey to work through a lot of forgiveness to move on from the adversity she’d faced in her previous business. In 155 Unbroken, Madeleine Black shared her story publicly with The Forgiveness Project and explained how her life is a lot more peaceful having made the choice of forgiveness. This was echoed by Lara Cowan in episode 089 School of Nature who shared that nature forgives the storms and said, “You have to forgive yourself for what you think.” Diana Hartley, Peter Edge, Martin Morrison and Jo Berry also shared their stories of forgiveness. However it was Nigel Risner in 084 The Power of Forgiveness who shared that his whole purpose and speaking career is focused on forgiveness and referenced that ‘resentment is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies.’ Making a conscious decision to release resentment towards someone regardless of whether they deserve your forgiveness or not will release you from feeling imprisoned by your own feelings. Are you holding yourself prisoner right now? “If you can understand the power of forgiveness, if you can communicate really well, if you know WHY you do what you do and if you're willing to have some fun in what you're doing, life seems to work pretty well. If you focus on your WHY, you focus on your biggest strength, you focus on what needs to be done, and if you really worked on your strengths more than your weaknesses, it's much more fun.” Nigel Risner So what is it about forgiveness that requires you to let go of any thoughts or feelings around revenge? Well, if you don’t, the amount of energy both mentally and emotionally that is involved in not letting go starts to build and is likely to escalate into anger, negativity, stress and poor health. When you ‘let it go’ through forgiveness you are the one who benefits most. You cannot change the past however you can control how you feel in the moment now and in moving forward. “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different." Oprah Winfrey Here’s the good news. You don’t have to wait for Christmas for this gift. Give yourself the free gift of forgiveness today! It’s good for your health as it is found to lower your risk of a heart attack, reduce your blood pressure, anxiety levels, depression and stress. It can even improve cholesterol levels and sleep and reduce pain. So, what’s not to love about forgiveness? Be strong and let it go! “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.” Mahatma Gandhi Let go of the grudge or the resentment. Trust yourself. Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Make peace and let it go! Focus on Forgiveness.
ACTION POINT Who or what do you need to forgive today? A friend, a family member, an ex, a colleague or a competitor? Whomever or whatever it is, focus on forgiveness.
Amy
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