Hey,
Inside Timer.
My name is Anthony Lombardo.
I'm a teacher here on Inside Timer.
I'm also a writer and self-development content creator.
And in this track,
I just wanted to share a brief message on forgiveness and how forgiveness is indeed one of the ultimate superpowers that we can strive.
A skill that is so downright necessary,
Especially now with everything going on in the world.
So what you're about to hear is a little bit of a talk.
It's a little bit of a public service announcement,
I would say,
On cultivating the superpower of forgiveness.
I hope this resonates with you.
Thanks for listening.
What if I told you that the real key that unlocks unimaginable happiness in life,
Fulfillment,
Radical success,
Waking up with that feeling every day of being radiantly alive,
Wasn't from drive or more motivation or creating better habits.
It wasn't from finding a kick-ass career,
Finding more money,
Or even stumbling upon a magic lottery ticket.
What if I told you right now that you can release everything that is holding you back and standing in your way from experiencing life to the highest level.
What if I said it's an ability that resides in you right now,
Literally a superpower,
At your disposal,
Just waiting for you to activate it.
And that power is forgiveness.
You see,
Most of us don't spend a whole lot of time building forgiveness into our lives.
Quite frankly,
We don't really think about it all that much.
I get it.
I've been there.
For the longest time,
I found myself trying to build other qualities into my life.
Things like confidence,
Courage,
Authenticity,
Likeability.
I found myself immersing in all the personal development activities,
Increasing productivity,
Trying to stay fit and healthy,
Chasing goals.
Everything in the name of trying to get better in every single area of my life.
But I was neglecting an important part.
I found myself keep faltering to the same frustrations and low vibrational state over and over again.
That no matter how much success I achieved,
No matter how many goals I accomplished,
No matter how much I've grown,
The same unpleasant emotions and situations would keep popping up in my life.
Because our pain from the past becomes a self-defeating pattern.
It becomes so lodged in our minds and bodies that we don't even realize it.
We carry around the harm that was done to us unconsciously in order to keep ourselves safe.
When someone or something causes us harm,
Our unconscious mind recognizes it and tries to protect us from it in the future.
But the thing is,
That unhealed pain will crop up again.
It may not crop up today,
It may not crop up tomorrow,
But it will crop up.
Because our subconscious mind internalizes those hurtful thoughts and emotions and creates patterns around them.
It becomes conditioned to create the same stories,
Same situations,
And same hurt over and over again.
Because it likes what is familiar.
However,
The mistake we make is with our conscious mind.
When someone makes us angry or hurts us,
We quote-unquote move on.
We try to convince ourselves that we're not hurt by what happened,
That it doesn't affect us.
See,
This is how we learn to cope as a society.
Back to business as usual,
As they say.
We go about our lives as if nothing is eating away at us.
So what do we do?
We drown ourselves in distraction.
We concentrate all of our energy on all of the things outside of us.
Like our career,
Earning more money,
Learning new skills,
Or binging on things like Netflix.
All the things we think are going to bring us wholeness and fulfillment and healing,
But it doesn't.
Yet,
We neglect and look away at the pain festering inside of us that is slowly chipping away at our very spirit.
But it is possible to clear your slate.
To rid yourself of all negativity and resentment that you've been holding onto and reliving.
And using it to transform yourself into the bigger,
Better,
More extraordinary person that you are capable of becoming.
And literally blow the lid off the level of happiness that you are able to experience in your life.
And you can do this right here,
Right now.
Take out a pen and a piece of paper and begin to take inventory of your life.
Go through your entire life and do a complete audit of where you are holding onto hurt.
Think back to every time period,
Every relationship,
Every facet of your existence.
And write down anyone you feel you are holding onto anger in the slightest way,
Even for the smallest of things.
Step two,
Pick a person from that list and go through the process of forgiving them.
By going back in time and reliving the situation in your mind.
Feel the emotions,
Feel the pain and hurt that was done to you.
Explicitly identify and acknowledge how this person hurt you.
Get all of your pain,
Your emotions,
And your insights down into your journal.
Once you do that,
Make a U-turn with your mindset.
Go from thinking hurt and pain to thinking growth.
What did you learn from this experience?
Get really clear what life was trying to teach you from this.
And lastly,
Consider this statement.
Hurt people hurt people,
Which you probably have heard a thousand times.
And while it may be hard at first to consider what this person who hurt you might have gone through to treat you the way they did.
Look at it from their perspective.
Consider what they might have experienced in their lives to cause you pain.
Put yourself in the other person's shoes.
Now actively repeat this process for everyone on your list.
Schedule forgiveness time in your calendar.
Just like you make time to exercise your muscles at the gym,
Make time to exercise your forgiveness muscles.
Now I'm not saying by doing this a few times,
You're going to feel absolutely amazing.
And you may need to repeat this process for the same person over and over again until you get to the point where you feel like you've truly forgiven them.
Because keep in mind,
Forgiveness is a skill.
And like any other skill,
It needs to be consistently practiced over and over again to really tap into its power.
But I have found the more I have gone through this process,
The lighter I have felt.
I began to drop dead weight that was holding me back and holding me down.
And you can do the same too.
You can begin to clear your slate of all negativity and resentment.
Opening yourself up fully to the present moment.
And embracing whatever the future has in store for you with open,
Bleeping arms.
And when you do,
You will find that you have indeed unlocked a superpower.
