An Exercise For Forgiveness

[sage]

I mentioned on my thread this AM that I had taken a workshop this weekend called "The Yoga of Forgiveness". It was a journalling workshop where we followed a series of steps (which I'll in subsequent posts). It was VERY enlightening for me.

As my "person", I used my mother, and as my "grievance", I used the events of the night she threated to kill my sister and I.

I did well developing a sense of empathy and understanding for my mom...but I DID get stuck with translating that into understanding her actions. IOW...I was able for the first time to REALLY feel how lost and afraid and confused my mother must have been, how she may not have seen any solutions to her loneliness, etc. I DID struggle with the magnitude, though, of her actions. I suspect that if I did h as my "person" and his EA as the grievance I may struggle at the same point.

What does that tell me?

Well...start small! I wouldn't start with the biggest, worse thing you can think of!

Also...the teacher and I talked about how my "stuckness" might really be an attachment to "the way things SHOULD be"...and we talked about how my next "work" could be around letting go of that attachment.

As I was writing down the notes today, though, it occurred to me that the next step for me should probably be to identify times when my thougths/feelings/needs resulted in actions that were not admirable. I'm pretty sure I could come up with some examples!

Last thing? I think that WRITING this stuff down is KEY. If you're truly interested in seeing how this will work for you I suggest setting aside the time and working through it with pen and paper.

I guess I'll make this my next thread! My old one is winding down, anyway!

Sage