To forgive or to grant forgiveness to someone is one of the toughest things for anyone. It is not easy to forget everything, forget the sorrows, swallow those bitter memories and bring the best smile on your face and say “it’s okay. Let’s start fresh.” What do you say? Is it easy for you?

 

During this one week, I am going to share my space with you talking about some deep-rooted words. Forgive, Miracle, Serenity, Nurture, Influence, Trust, and Grief. Aren’t they heavy? To me they are. If I see these 7 words, I see a connection in them. Look at them backward. When we are in grief, when our trust is broken, we look for some influence, some outer source that can help us in healing and when we find that it nurtures our inner-self; our soul. We feel serene and sometimes the miracle happens; the click which enlightens us to forgive the cause of our grief. Do you agree?

 

Now, tell me something. Have you ever said sorry to someone? I am sure your answer is Yes. For this, pat your back. Again. It is not easy to accept your mistake and say sorry. Now, how many of you have forgiven a person even if you haven’t been asked for forgiveness? Thinking? If you have said yes, then you know the power of forgiveness. And that’s what my today’s topic.

 

As a parent, we should teach these basic values to our kids. Today, kids understanding has gotten very matured and their way of thinking and handling situations has changed too. They are very quick to name someone. Mean is in the top of their list. I have seen young kids ignoring each other just because they had a fight or an argument day before yesterday. And slowly, this becomes a permanent feeling. When my kids come to me saying that they are upset with someone’s behavior, I don’t say that don’t talk to him/her. Rather I listen to their whole story (yes, I just called it a story. It sounds like a story when they explain it.) And if that episode can be avoided or ignored then I suggest them to forget about it. But if they are adamant then I have to suggest them to talk about it to their friend. So far, it has always worked. I am not sure if it will work all the time, but my aim here is to make them understand the importance of letting things go sometimes and if it doesn’t work then sort it out. The main ideas should be to maintain peace for ourselves and in our surroundings.

 

“Anger makes you smaller while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond who you are.” Let me start with this quote when I talk about the power of forgiveness. Forgiveness is another name for Love, Compassion. As humans, we are born with love and forgiveness. We are born to receive love and spread love. Now, some of you must be thinking then what about our mental state when someone hurt us badly, break our trust? I know it hurts badly. I have been there but what I want to say is if that person is not letting go his/her trait or weakness of hurting then why should we let go ours of forgiving? We are here not to prove ourselves superior or to win a battle of who we can hurt more. We are here to live our lives happily and make it happy for the people around us. Why not give them a benefit of doubt the first time. If it happens again and again then it is more of a pattern. Then it is better to move on. At least you are at peace and positive state of mind that you didn’t do anything wrong. If the other person has to learn then let him or if he doesn’t then let him be happy with what he feels.

 

Forgiveness is not easy but can be learned.  It is at the heart of all happiness. Forgiveness takes efforts, motivation, and willpower. Weigh the advantages of forgiveness and resentment-then choose.

Remember, “A weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” Who do you want to be?

Also available on MotherGurukulpodcast

https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e3d2pf

‘I’m Writing Bravely for the Write Tribe Festival of Words – March 2019’

Prompt: One word: Forgive