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3 Ways Forgiveness Can Transform Your Life
(The magical power of letting shit go)
Forgiveness used to be such a foreign concept to me. When I was younger, I used to think that forgiving someone gave them license to push my boundaries.
Even forgiving myself was horribly hard to do. Hell, there are still personal mistakes that require constant forgiveness, inch by inch, to heal.
But, once I finally let an old hurt go, no matter how long it takes to get there, I tend to feel much better and lighter. It’s because forgiveness provides some amazing benefits.
Forgiveness removes the anxiety that comes from anger.
Anger is a secondary response to something much deeper, which is fear. Fear is one of the reasons it’s hard to let slights go from others.
We fear that when we forgive others, we are giving them permission to go there again.
We are anxiously awaiting the next time they disrespect, neglect, or abuse us. We mistake forgiveness with vulnerability, which are not the same thing.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean that we allow people to take advantage of us again. It doesn’t mean that we allow ourselves to be punching bags for other peoples’ ugliness.