Forgiveness can be a tricky word for many. It triggers questions such as, how can we forgive? How can we move past the things that have been done to us and forgive those who hurt us? Or how can we forgive ourselves for…? (you can fill in the blank).
I like to think of forgiveness as an emotional muscle we get to flex. For me, I have learned I need to warm up my wrists by doing some circles, stretch my arms and shoulders before I start handling the weight. Then, I wrap my hands around the grip, feel it as I slowly lift the weight off the rack, testing my strength.
What I have noticed is people often think of forgiveness and then they go to their heaviest weight, they give themselves no warm up, no build up of strength… and they try to lift it. I will leave you to imagine how you see the end result of this.
For today, I encourage you to just warm this muscle up. What happened today or yesterday (remember not a heavy weight here) that you can apply forgiveness too? Or, if forgiveness is a word you struggle with, how can you accept?
Whatever warm up you focus on, keep your focus on the warm up. Pick small moments at first, where forgiveness could be easy; such as forgiving the driver that cut you off. Then work up to a slightly bigger moment or event. Strengthen this muscle each day, build up your forgiveness/acceptance skills. There is no competition or rush to get to that heavy weight. Take your time; there is no need for you to pull muscle or a strain from rushing. All will come with time and patience.
