Forgiveness

When we forgive ourselves and others, the entire orchestrated universe conspires to help support our healing process. As we heal, we heal the Collective. When we connect to heart space, we let go of judgments both internal and external, allowing us to see all through the eyes of the creator.

Transcript

Hi everyone,

My name is Kevin Naidoo and I'd like to speak today on forgiveness.

Sometimes we tend to stray away from this peace,

Tend to stack our emotions instead of feeling them,

Tend to be over critical with ourselves and our journeys.

So we really find that place hard to really forgive ourselves and not feel guilty about anything.

Well my teacher the first day I met him he told me guilt is a useless emotion,

It doesn't serve you or the planet,

So let it go.

It's always held truth to me.

So keep that in your mind through your journey through forgiveness,

But also keep in your mind to honor your path,

To honor your journey and to honor any wounds.

When we can honor any wounds it doesn't create a hook in our physical body,

In our cellular memory and we can look at it from a place of presence so it doesn't cause any more suffering.

I used to live a very different life before,

I was a yoga teacher.

My previous life was a life of addiction,

Lost in a life of addiction for a really long time.

There was a lot of pieces I had to forgive myself for.

A lot of times I gave my power away because I didn't think I was enough.

A lot of times I did bad things just to fit into a crowd because I wasn't confident in myself or in my voice and it also didn't ever feel heard.

So to look at my forgiveness I had to transmute the shadow into light.

I had to look at those pieces that I was embarrassed to look at,

Those pieces that brought a feeling of humiliation,

Of embarrassment.

I had to look at those pieces when I didn't have a voice and I had to start giving voice within my own self to all of these pieces because they all make up me and my journey.

I had to learn to be honest and trust.

The biggest piece of forgiveness for me was in the midst of addiction,

Trying to take myself out and not knowing even what happened.

It's something I didn't speak about to anyone for a very long time because it brought fear of putting me back into that place of when I consciously did that and making me feel the emotions behind it which I continuously stacked at that time because I didn't have any tools to move through it.

When we can look at all these sticky pieces we can offer our self-forgiveness.

We can move into that place of our beautiful authentic self.

So what I did was I wrote a letter.

I put pen to pen and I wrote a letter.

I put pen to paper of what I need to forgive myself for.

And some teachers will have you write it out and have you burn it and do a burning.

I like to take it one step deeper.

Once it's all written down,

When we burn something we burn it as a negative and I don't want to burn that as a negative.

That's part of my experience,

Part of my journey.

So I like to take that letter and purify it first in salted water.

Soak it,

Squeeze it out,

Then put it in the fire and let it go.

By doing it this way there won't ever be any hook anymore.

There won't be any negative connotation to your path of forgiveness because you've purified that.

You've freed yourself,

You've liberated yourself,

You've honored the wound.

So continue to be gentle with yourself.

Within this piece of forgiveness,

Remember consistency,

Remember being gentle,

Remember being compassionate with you.

Remember that you do deserve to heal.

Remember that your voice does matter.

Remember that you deserve to be heard and you deserve to forgive yourself because as we do we create space inside so we can manifest every single thing we want in this world on this planet.

Love yourself,

Forgive yourself,

Be proud of yourself.

Namaste.

Reviews

💚💙

I Am on a journey of healing myself, and this was much needed. Thank you 🙏🏽💛💛

Thank you so much for your openness and healing words. It has helped me immensely today. Namaste 🙏

A beautiful reminder to forgive oneself in a kind and loving way. Thank you for sharing your journey which is inspiring 💗⭐️💗

Beautifully articulated, thank you and Namaste.

It made my heart pound with the fear of having to forgive myself for some things I have done, people I have hurt along the way. But it was just what I needed to hear. 🙏

Authentic. Heartfelt. Kind and generous. Thanks for sharing this for others to learn and heal themselves. Namaste beautiful soul.

Very very beautiful. Thank you for sharing your voice.

A great start for a difficult journey; thank you

Thank you..I will bookmark and play often. I struggle so hard with forgiveness but I think it’s me I’m having trouble forgiving although I have come to think my shadow side came out and did a terrible thing. I really hurt me and 35 years later live with that along time. Sometimes I blame my parent and act vindictively but that is not the path to wholeness, love or self acceptance and forgiveness..nor is it the way to acceptance. I like your ideas of a positive approach to forgiveness since the darkness I live with helps no one and nothing. Thank you for your post. I hope you do more.

I needed to hear this today. Thank you and namaste 🙏🏼

What a gift! Thank you🌻❤️

Beautiful thank you kindly 😊

Beautiful. Thank you and Blessings. 🌻🐢🦋

Beautiful loved all of it

Authentically, Kevin. ❤️
Vulnerable. Powerful. Compassionate.
Thank you 🙏🏻, for always speaking your truth, and empowering us in this deep journey of healing.

Thank you,Kevin. This was very profound and healing for me. I thank you for your honesty and courage. I will do as you said. Blessings to you.🙏❤

Thank you Kevin...
This i know but forget all to often... It was great timing & a beautiful to begin a new day!

Thank you for this. I see the light in you. 🤲❤️🤲

Upon second listen:
I may have not been fully awake or present for this practice when I first listened to it. Something about it had been tugging at my spirit since yesterday morning when I listened to it as part of my morning practice - I have certain core practices but I have space within the time I gift to myself in order to explore new practices, new ways of teaching, and so on. Yesterday morning was somewhat chaotic and fast-paced; perhaps I did not permit myself the time to truly listen and process this then.

I have now.

I have tears in my eyes. This was and is so raw, so real, so resonant. While my personal journey has not included addiction in my past, the emotions described match up so well with other challenges I have lived with (and in some cases, continue to live with). I also have worked for nearly 20 years in human services, specifically with children and adults with diagnoses ranging from substance abuse to mental health (my formal educational background), developmental disabilities, and physical conditions.

I mention this because part of my tears are for hearing these same things from my clients, day in and day out. Most are not in a place to manage and sustain a forgiveness practice at this stage. I grieve for them in this and offer my support, but I grieve for myself as well because I AM them. I have physical challenges, some mental health conditions, and a developmental disability. (I use the term "disability" only for clarity here - I will not go into semantics in this venue, though I am a firm believer that this is simply a normal part of the human condition and a difference in wiring/ability rather than a society-declared "disability).

I have not permitted myself to fully be present with them because I have not been able to fully be present with myself yet. I shut myself away from them at a certain point because of this. And it is only now, listening to this practice a second time, where it is not a day I need to go to work and immerse myself in these situations, that I see all of this so clearly.

I am in a transitional period of grief as well, having lost two dear people (my last remaining grandparent and my workplace secretary of nearly 12 years) within 5 weeks, and another family member moving any day towards hospice care along with sending my only child off to college last week, a major surgery (my own) in this next month, an anniversary of another death, and workplace earthquakes. Among other things. I have not given myself time to be truly present with ANY of this. Everything has been moving too fast.

My therapist rather pointedly asked me last week when I was planning to take a vacation and give myself a break. I said during my recovery time off from the surgery. He shook his head and said that was recovery, not rest. More than my body needs healing. He was right. Your words here brought that slamming home to me. I need to forgive myself for not being present FOR myself, for not allowing myself the time I need, for those opportunities that have slipped past because I could not see them, lost in my own fog. I need to forgive myself and release the regret for those missed moments at the same time. Until I do this, I will continue to be stagnant - as I only now have realized I am, for which I am so grateful to you for enabling me to see with your words.

I share this openly in hopes that others who may be in a similar situation or state of being may benefit from the experiences I have had, both in general and specifically in regards to the sheer power this practice has and its ability to shine a gentle, healing light into those shadowy corners of ourselves we may not even realize exist.

Raw. Powerful. Resonant. Heart-felt. Love. Forgiveness. Healing. Life.

These words are this practice. And as before, I am so grateful for it. Bookmarked and downloaded. Your light shines brightly - do not hide it. Fan the cleansing, healing flames with loving self-confidence and self-worth. Brightest of blessings to all. 🤲❤️🤲

I really like that. Purifying first.