A controversial demon that the lot of us struggle with. What is forgiveness? By textbook definition, "it is the action or process of forgiving or being forgiven." It is to be exonerated of whatever wrongdoing you have performed. Now with that being said, what is forgiveness and what does it mean to you?
Does it mean, living freely? No longer imprisoned in the anger, hurt or frustration created by you or by others that still haunts you in your daily living? Or does it mean, the freedom to finally be who you choose to be? For a number of people, forgiveness can mean a number of things. A necessary evil, so to speak, in ever-changing growth and authentic happiness. It's necessary to be and feel vulnerable, to experience that moment just as it is, in all of its cringe-worthy sensitivity. Forgiveness....unshackles the ball and chain of regret, resentment, and hatred of self and of others, giving us an opportunity to walk away from the past and be embedded within that present moment. When we forgive, we relinquish the power and the hold that is on us from whatever person, place or thing that grasped ahold of us in the first place.
But how do we find the will to forgive? Let alone to be forgiven by others? A question that has been lost with the ages yet still holds a clear answer that's been there the entire time. It all boils down to you. You never want to give yourself a false conclusion that forgiveness is only for the one who is doing the forgiving. No. It's always a two-way street, no matter how you cut it. You need to want to live freely. You need to have the will to press forward without any "Unfinished Business" hanging over you like a fly on a wall.