When we suffer emotional wounds due to the offensive words or actions of others, we may harbor the extremely negative emotions of fear, hatred, resentment and/or pain over an extended period of time. Each time we think about the event that caused us to feel that way, we re-experience it and it becomes a vicious cycle that can become burdensome. To relieve ourselves of that burden, we must forgive.To forgive is to let go. To let something go, however, does not mean to condone or to forget the behavior that caused us to experience those emotions in the first place. Forgiving another person is above all, a precious gift we give ourselves. Letting go of those negative emotions by forgiving others is like opening the door to an emotional jail cell in which we have been imprisoned. By forgiving, we acknowledge that we have suffered enough and are ready to rise above the circumstances that resulted in the bad feelings. We can make room in our minds and in our hearts for better things.
Life really is too short to spend it harboring ill feelings towards those who have wronged us. In the course of our lives, we all experience bad things in one way or another. Our time is better spent not bemoaning why it happened to us, but to glean whatever lesson we can from the event and then focus on the good things in our lives. We all truly deserve that and so much more. Adapted from http://ezinearticles.com/
