New Year! New You! Part:2..Forgive More, Forgive Faster (it's more for you)

PART: 2

As I mentioned in the intro of this mini-series (which you can find just below) this year’s resolutions are focusing on the inner-me!  While our physical health is important it is also imperative that we improve on our mental, spiritual and emotional health as well.  Doing that will make a world of difference in the peace you will find.  So join me in exploring the best ways to do that! I hope you enjoyed Part 1: Meditate.  Now dive right in to Part 2 adn enjoy!

Forgive more (forgive faster)- While I was pretty pleased with last year, I will say that it was not without trying moments.  Moments when I felt wronged or disrespected. Moments when I felt that my husband was wronged or disrespected. And when those moments came, I found that being angry about them definitely stressed me out. It affected my interaction with others.  It caused me to lose sleep and become irritable. At times it became the topic of discussion far too often (my husband’s poor ears,lol).The moment I realized that the real issue had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the person(s) who brought the drama I was able to forgive them. I was able to release whatever I was feeling and forgive.  A lot of times people have other things going on in their lives and instead of dealing with it head on or finding a helpful solution they involve others to deflect what is really going on at the core.  Well these innocent bystanders then get pulled into something that really has nothing at all to do with them.  But there is a space in between the initial offense and forgiveness.  In that space there is a series of emotions from anger, to disappointment, to hurt and sadness at times. That space, that unhealthy, unsteady space is what I am focusing on trying to make much smaller.  At times it can be challenging to forgive someone.  Let alone forgive someone right away. Forgiving doesn't mean continue to allow someone to mistreat you. It doesn't mean you are giving out free passes to be wronged. Nor does it mean you didn’t have a right to get upset, or feel disrespected.  It means to "cease to feel resentment against".  The moment you forgive is the very moment you take the power you gave away back! It’s simply saying, “hey you know what..whatever YOU have going on over there is YOUR business. I’m sorry you are going through it but I will not allow your behavior towards me to be an avenue for you to use to get through it!”  (Not to mention you can't get forgiveness from God without also forgiving others) It’s a release.  It's placing a peace back in your spirit. A peace that for me is like a drink of cold iced tea on a hot summer day!  So while I did a lot of forgiving last year, this year I will try to forgive sooner. More for me.  More for those around me that may be innocent by-standers of my hurt feelings or my irritated spirit. The quicker I get my peace back the healthier my spirit will be!

I hope you got something out of this. Join me next week for the final part: Purge (weeding my garden of life) where I talk about how pulling out the weeds of toxic people can help your garden of life grow to its full potential.