What is Forgiveness?

By Paula Jones

Forgiveness is one of the most powerful practices we can embrace in order to live with an open and loving heart. Forgiveness is an often-misunderstood concept and, as a result, can be difficult to apply in our lives.

RE-DEFINING FORGIVENESS

What is forgiveness? Here is what it is not – it is not deciding that what someone has done to you is acceptable. This misunderstanding about forgiveness acts as an obstacle in our attempt to forgive others. We know that what someone has done to us is not OK and as a result we are not interested in forgiving that person.

Instead, we can change our definition of forgiveness and see it as an opportunity to let go of emotions – such as anger, resentment, sadness, and grief – that persist in relation to an incident or person in our lives. We then may be far more motivated to explore the topic. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to feel open and loving despite how others act, instead of feeling angry, resentful, or sad? When forgiveness is defined that way, it seems an attractive goal.

IS RE-INTEGRATION WISE AND LOVING?

Another obstacle to forgiving another is the misunderstanding that a reintegration, with the person who has done someone unacceptable to you, must follow.

Betrayal by a friend, for instance, can proceed to forgiveness and lead to a reconnection with that friend. A better mutual understanding of each other, compassion for one another, and a deeper relationship can follow. On the other hand, if the friend, who has betrayed you, does not take responsibility for her actions, shows no regret and perhaps attempts to justify the betrayal, it is reasonable to assume this person is likely to betray again.

Deciding not to integrate this person back into your life – not out of retaliation but out of self-love – can be a wise and loving decision for you both. Forgiveness of this person, however, is still possible, despite lack of recognition or apology. Forgiveness is about healing yourself. No participation of the perpetrator is needed!

EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS

Expressing the feelings that are inside of us in reaction to whatever another has done is vital to forgiveness. Feeling the anger and hurt after a friend’s betrayal moves us through those feelings, until they are literally expressed – outside of us and no longer inside of us. As a wise hippie once said, “You have to feel it to heal it.” As corny as this expression may be, it works. It just works. Feel the anger, hurt, and pain that you feel in response to another. Express it – in a responsible way – in order to get past it and let it go.

SELF-FORGIVENESS

Self-forgiveness is also a vital component of forgiving others. If anger and resentment towards a person or an incident seems to linger, self-forgiveness is often the way to get past those feelings. We can become so focused on the one who “did us wrong” that we fail to look at the judgments and criticism we may be directing towards ourselves. A friend’s betrayal may make us feel gullible, embarrassed, and vulnerable. We may not like these feelings at all. However, until we feel those feelings and then forgive ourselves for being a fallible human being, the anger and resentment probably won’t subside.

Many of us learned as children that it was counterproductive to fight back with our parents. They really have power over our very survival. Even if they treated us in an unacceptable manner, keeping quiet and acquiescing was a way to prevent the situation from getting even worse. Or, perhaps we did fight back only to have our parents treat us unfairly even more. As adults, our automatic response may be to keep quiet or acquiesce in the face of conflict in order to survive the situation. Perhaps we are still combative as adults. We fight every battle instead of letting the little things go, ultimately increasing our own suffering more than anyone else’s. The avoidance of the shame or embarrassment or anger we then feel for not standing up for ourselves – or by standing up for ourselves too vehemently – can cloud our ability to forgive another.

COMPASSION AND UNDERSTANDING

Once we are able to feel compassion and understanding for our own actions, it can enable us to feel compassion and understanding for the person who has wronged us. Instead of labeling the friend who has betrayed us as “evil” or a “lost cause”, perhaps we can see how he was acting out of his own need to survive, based on his own feelings of powerlessness. Again, it doesn’t make the betrayal acceptable. But it can make it understandable and perhaps we can begin to feel compassion for that person.

After all, we are all human beings, ultimately having a very similar experience.

(Originally published on Hoffman’s Tumblr page)