June 5--To Move Forward

It's simple: When you haven't forgiven those who've hurt you, you turn your back against your future. When you do forgive, you start walking forward. --Tyler Perry

     When you don't forgive, you are clinging to the past, in effect, wishing that it could have been different. This takes a lot of energy. Upon forgiving, all that energy is freed up to move forward into a better, certainly more interesting, life. It's simple, yes, but not necessarily easy.
     Sometimes past hurts are so incredibly painful that we have buried the memory of them. It takes courage to return them to the surface and let them go.
     Whether or not we can see it, every experience has some gift to offer us. A lifetime of abuse by my older brother Ken made me a much stronger person. I've learned a huge amount about myself as a result of dealing with his incessant teasing and verbal abuse. Would I care to repeat all that to obtain these lessons? No. But recognizing the "gifts" has enabled me to forgive and move on. I see so many ways in which Ken was a troubled soul--I just happened to be an easy and convenient target for his nastiness.
     To ponder: Where might you free up some energy by forgiving?
     One step at a time,
             Leta