I believe we can only give others love, compassion, empathy, forgiveness after we have first extended those to ourselves.
It's all a process and we move at our own speed.
Did you seem my post about the documentary The Unreal Dream? Sometime when you're feeling especially introspective see if it's available to watch on CNN.
It really made me think about the capacity to forgive.
Hi Bug!!! That is an amazing story, I only got to see a 5 min. preview however his capacity for forgiveness is huge. I wonder how long it took him to get there? I can't wait to get to watch the whole film.
I totally get that in order to give love, compassion and empathy we must first give that to ourselves. I am a work in progress
I have made the decision to forgive and I am forgiving, as emotions pop up and things trigger my emotions I have to decide again to forgive. For me this is not a one time thing, i find myself having to make the decision to forgive over and over. I am not sure if anyone else has to do this, however I do.
Forgiveness is in my nature. I know the anxiety I have been having is due to the fact I assumed It had to be all or nothing. I felt as if I had not forgiven at all when things would pop up or emotions would get the better of me.
Once I realized that it may take me a million forgiveness's to be "healed" or to able to get through the day without thinking about it, my anxiety has all but gone away. I still get a tiny bit of anxiety, every now and then but... it is 99% better.
Once I realized that I am normal so to speak that forgiveness is not necessarily a one time thing, I really calmed down.
I love being able to post my incoherent thoughts on this board and have people that care enough to comment and try to help me in my journey...
You can not change your past, but you can ruin a perfectly good present by worrying about the future.
