How to Forgive Yourself and Others

Have you ever thought about a moment in your life where you did wrong to someone or someone did wrong to you? A moment that every time you think about it you feel deeply bad about yourself or deeply angry towards someone, these are thoughts of un-forgiveness. Not being able to forgive yourself and others is harmful to only one person, and that person is you. It is difficult to forgive if you do not grasp the concept of un-forgiveness. Un-forgiveness is a one way street because it only affects the person directing un-forgiveness towards his or her self or others. I believe fully understanding that the effects of un-forgiveness are self inflicting or self sabotaging is the key to forgiving yourself and others.
Un-forgiveness mostly affects the un-forgiver. When someone does wrong to you, the best way to remove the hurt is to forgive that person. Carrying around negative feeling towards yourself or others will only create emotional disturbance or discomfort which in intense case can lead to poor health. It is in your best interest to let go of un-forgiveness. Have it ever occur to you that the person you did wrong to or the person who did wrong to you may not even remember you or may not even be thinking about you;  at the same time you are emotionally disturbed with un-forgiveness. You can become a prisoner of your own thoughts and the only person that can set you free is you.

Forgiving yourself also includes letting go of the mistakes or bad choices you made in your life. Looking back you wish you did things differently, you wish you could turn back the hands of time, you begin to think your life would have turned out differently and maybe for the better; overall, you cannot help but wonder, what if. Clearly you cannot change the past or predict the future, you can only live in the now, and in the now you can forgive yourself. Optimistic people believe that there is no such thing as life mistakes but rather life lessons, they view mistakes as opportunities to learn, therefore they learn from their mistakes.

Forgiving yourself and others is liberating, you have the ability to live life freely without the constraints of negative emotions. Understanding that you reap the rewards of forgiveness empowers to freely forgive yourself and other. Because of the human condition, like anything else it takes willingness, effort, and practice to master. But once you experience the freedom that comes along with forgiveness it will become easier. So sit down and take the time to think about where in your life un-forgiveness is causing you emotional discomfort. Begin to put your thoughts of un-forgiveness in perspective by acknowledging the self inflicting effects of un-forgiveness and release your negative thoughts and emotions. Learn from your mistakes rather than living in regret. Move forward with the intention of doing differently so you can avoid repeating an unlikeable outcome. The words free your mind and the rest will follow, sang by the group En Vogue, rains true in un-forgiveness.