The main goal of meditation is for us to practice being in the present moment. To be fully aware of every sensation means we’re calmer and more at peace with our emotions and thoughts.
Unfortunately, life is a bit more complicated than that.
Sometimes, we’re thrown curve balls that knock us off our feet and make it difficult to appreciate the little things. We’re also susceptible to feelings of guilt, regret, and anger. They can make us rooted in the past and unable to forgive.
One easy, yet highly effective, technique to help you heal and move forward is meditation. Today, we’re going to show you how meditation can help you forgive.
Let’s get started.
How Meditation Can Help You Forgive
Meditation has been a true and trusted form of therapy for thousands of years. Since then, it’s been shaped and reshaped, altered, and modified.
Nowadays, you’ll find dozens of types of meditation techniques, as well as different ways and modalities. That’s what makes it so accessible. No matter how old—or young—you are, you can’t go wrong with meditation.
Even though the path to healing isn’t easy, forgiveness meditation can help. Here are some of the ways it can help you forgive and start living life to the fullest once again.
Organize Your Thoughts
Making time during your day to clear out your thoughts is one of the benefits of meditation, especially when you’re trying to forgive and move on. It’s a great way to let go of the heavy burdens of anger and rage that come when someone has hurt us.
Plus, you get to be honest about the source of your pain. Once you’re able to do that, you can accept what happened and move forward.
Taking a few minutes of each day to work through your thoughts comes with three main benefits, such as:
- Relief from stress and anxiety
- A sense of inner peace and hope to help you get through the day
- Prepare yourself for the following day by becoming more accepting and more positive
Accept That No One Is Perfect
When we’ve been wronged, it can be a bit too easy to start acting self-righteous. But one of the hardest things we have to learn how to do is accept that none of us are perfect.
We all make mistakes. That’s just a fact of life we have to put up with.
To help with that, you can try forgiveness meditation. It’s not designed to force anything on you or make you pretend you’re okay with it when you’re not.
All it does is allow you to relinquish feelings of regret and resentment. As you practice meditation more and more, and you extend forgiveness, you’ll realize that all people are fallible.
Learn to Control Your Emotions
Getting hurt, especially by someone you love and trust, can be brutal. You don’t know where to go from there. You feel stuck, at an impasse, with no guidance or support.
So, you lash out. Sometimes, people who have anger-management issues lash out at others. They can’t control their rage, so they just let it rip on innocent bystanders.
Then there are those who do the exact opposite. They lash out internally.
They do that by keeping everything bottled in. As a result, all their pain and despair wreaks havoc on their minds, bodies, and emotions, causing a slew of physical and emotional problems.
Forgiveness meditation is a terrific outlet for both of those scenarios. It can help regulate and control anger. So, whenever you’re in a difficult situation, you’re equipped with the necessary tools to deal with it the right way.
How to Practice Forgiveness Meditation
Like all types of meditation practices, forgiveness meditation works by aligning your heart, mind, and body. Its main aim is to give you the power of releasing the burden and the distress you’ve held onto for so long. By letting go of the negative thoughts and emotions holding you back, you can finally start living a healthy, happy life.
Here are the basic steps to help you practice forgiveness meditation:
- Sit comfortably somewhere quiet and peaceful.
- Close your eyes and just breathe.
- Relax your body and mind.
- Say the following, either out loud or in your mind, “If anyone has hurt or harmed me, knowingly or unknowingly, I forgive them. As different thoughts and emotions come to mind, continue by saying, “I forgive you.”
- Feel the pain of keeping your heart closed because you haven’t been able to forgive.
- Picture yourself releasing all the barriers you’ve put up.
- Allow yourself to let all the anger and pain loose, along with the bitterness and resentment.
- Start to extend forgiveness, both to others as well as yourself.
- Keep breathing softly as the images keep filling your mind.
- Feel your heart letting go of the negative thoughts and emotions, and opening up to accept happiness, empathy, and kindness.
A Final Note
Forgiveness isn’t taking any sort of action or waiting for reconciliation. Nor does it mean being passive and pensive in a dark corner.
It simply means that you choose to no longer live with the bitterness and resentment day in and day out. When you choose to forgive, you put your own ease of mind and overall health before anything and anyone else.
One of the ways you can practice forgiveness is through meditation. It’ll open your heart and mind, and allow you to live in a much kinder, more hopeful world.
Would you like to learn more about Forgiveness?
Check out my Forgiveness Mini-course with Workbook and Journal!
