Guided forgiveness meditation.
Begin by sitting comfortably,
Allowing your body to be at ease.
Breathe easily and as you do,
Bring your attention to your heart center,
Spending a moment or two with your awareness anchored there.
Placing our attention on our heart center helps us to soften our hearts and our minds before beginning with the actual practice itself.
It may also help to place one or both of your hands over your heart as a gesture of self-care and compassion.
Next,
We move on to the following two directions of forgiveness.
The first direction.
Say to yourself,
Either aloud or silently,
There are many ways in which I have hurt and harmed others,
But I am not alone in this.
We have all caused others pain,
And we have all been hurt.
We have all caused others pain,
Knowingly or unknowingly.
And now take a moment to remember these actions.
Feel how you still carry the experiences of hurting others in your body.
As you remember these incidents,
Hold whomever you have harmed in your heart,
And in your own way,
You can say,
The ways that I have hurt or harmed you were the result of my own fear and pain,
My own confusion,
Anger,
Hurt,
And misunderstanding.
I am truly sorry for my actions,
And I ask for your forgiveness.
Please forgive me.
And as you ask for this forgiveness,
Remember that it was out of your hurt,
Fear,
Confusion,
And pain that you harmed others,
Whether it was knowingly or not,
And that you can be forgiven.
As sincerely as you can,
Ask,
May I be forgiven?
May I be forgiven?
And receive this forgiveness,
Allowing it to ease your body and lighten your heart.
Thank you.
The Second Direction When we see the ways we've hurt others,
We can feel our own pain and regret,
Sensing the ways that we need to forgive ourselves.
Say to yourself,
Just as I have at times harmed others,
In the same way I have harmed myself.
I have betrayed myself,
Abandoned myself,
And caused myself pain.
I remember these times now too.
And now bring to mind one or more ways that you've harmed or betrayed yourself in the past.
Feel the sorrows that you still carry as a result of those actions.
Say to yourself,
In the ways that I've harmed or betrayed myself,
Which were a result of my fear,
Pain,
Confusion,
Anger,
And misunderstanding,
I now offer myself forgiveness.
I start over again.
I release myself from the past.
I forgive myself.
Feel how you can hold yourself with mercy and tenderness in this very moment.
And as you do,
Offer yourself forgiveness.
Release yourself so that you can be free,
Your heart can be free,
You can breathe easily,
And you can begin again.
Thank you.
Continue to work with this meditation whenever your heart calls for it.
Take the time to sit and hold yourself with care and compassion.
Feel the sorrows and pain of the past and offer yourself sincere forgiveness to the best of your ability.
Learning to forgive yourself and others is one of the greatest gifts that you can offer the world.
