Hello,
And welcome to this meditation on forgiveness.
For most of us,
Forgiveness may appear in one of two forms.
One is to forgive some person or group of people who have,
By your perception,
Wronged you in some way.
The other form of forgiveness is when you are unable to forgive yourself.
A meditation based on an ancient Hawaiian tradition called Ho'onoponopono,
Traditionally used to heal family relationships,
May be helpful in your journey with forgiveness.
It can be effective for relieving unhappiness caused by past actions.
What works best is to repeat this meditation daily,
And over a period of time,
Your unhappiness will lessen.
Start by getting grounded,
Settled,
Focused.
Find a comfortable position.
It helps to be upright,
Back straight but not rigid.
Find some balance,
Noticing if you are balanced right to left and front to back,
Becoming very grounded in your seat.
With your front soft,
You are in a relaxed position,
Letting your face and your whole body soften and relax.
Let your upper eyelids rest on your lower eyelids,
Your lips gently touching or apart with your jaw relaxed.
Feel your whole body at ease,
With hands resting on your lap or thighs,
The palms may be in a receptive position facing up,
Or the palms may be facing down,
Which is more grounded.
Feel your stability,
Your muscles becoming heavy.
Breathing allows your body to teach your mind to be relaxed and open.
Bring your attention to your breath.
Take a deep,
Slow breath in through your nose and release slowly through your mouth.
Continue breathing like that as you become relaxed and present.
If your mind wanders,
Which it will,
Focus again on your breath.
Now let your breath resume its natural rhythm through your nose.
Bring to mind a situation where you're having difficulty forgiving yourself.
As you become aware of it,
You don't need to go so deeply into the replay of the story that you start to get lost in the emotions.
Let it come into your awareness like you're watching a movie.
Notice how your body is responding as you think about this situation.
Notice if your body is holding tension or pain about this unforgiving encounter.
Again,
Breathe deeply.
See if there's a sense of resisting the pain or discomfort inside.
As much as you can,
Let it be.
Start to imagine that you're breathing kindness or light into this discomfort,
Not trying to make it go away.
Just allow it to be here with this breath of kindness.
Recognize that you are able to experience these feelings inside.
You are witnessing the experience in your body.
You are an observer outside of this experience.
These emotions,
Maybe you can name them,
Maybe not,
Observe yourself feeling them.
Watch the experience of these emotions right now.
Notice the thoughts that are arising,
Thoughts of judgment,
Unforgiveness,
Distraction,
Pain.
Recognize these thoughts are happening,
Yet you are observing them.
Those thoughts are not you.
You are observing all of these experiences.
Even if the grip of shame feels so strong right now,
You are observing this feeling.
Take a deep breath.
You are not alone.
Your family,
Your friends,
Your recovering community members here with you right now are also having difficulty forgiving themselves.
Everyone is so connected,
So connected.
Every single one of us makes mistakes.
Every one of us on the planet makes mistakes again and again and again,
Even grievous mistakes.
Mistakes are not who you are.
Mistakes help you learn about yourself and the world.
Mistakes help you grow and mature into a version of yourself that you want to be.
Mistakes help you see things about yourself that you couldn't see before.
Mistakes help you learn about what feels good and what doesn't feel good for you.
You deserve another chance.
You deserve another chance,
Whether that chance is to feel peace or joy or to allow love into your life,
Into your heart.
You deserve love and forgiveness,
And you can sit with the part of you that doesn't believe that to be true,
And you can thank this part of you for protecting you.
You can thank this part of you for holding on to the unforgiveness because that is how you protected yourself.
Cup your left hand and place it gently on your heart,
Right over your heart.
Place your right hand over your left.
Gently press against your chest,
Applying love to the wounded heart.
Hold that gentle pressure.
Gently say to yourself,
I love you.
I love you.
You don't even need to believe it yet.
Just say,
I love you,
And realize that when you say I love you to yourself,
There's a reverberation and everyone experiences it.
I love you.
I love you.
Say to this part of you inside that is distressed,
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Maybe you're sorry for how much pain you've been in.
Judging yourself,
Punishing yourself,
Holding on to this unforgiveness,
I'm sorry.
And now say to this part of you,
Please forgive me.
Forgive me for my ignorance.
Forgive me for hurting you.
Forgive me for hurting another in my ignorance,
My lack of awareness.
Forgive me.
Now say to this part of you,
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for letting me in.
Thank you for being willing to be here at all.
Thank you for learning to accept me as I am.
Thank you for your forgiveness,
For your love.
Thank you for being willing to just sit with me or look at me.
Thank you.
And now continue to repeat this to yourself with presence,
With intention,
With tenderness and love.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
Allow whatever discomfort or pain you might have to come to the surface and hold it in this loving space.
See yourself in your mind's eye as being worthy of forgiveness.
See yourself in your innocence.
There is innocence within you.
There is kindness within you.
Remember the kind loving things you have done for people in your life.
You have been a source of inspiration and love and healing.
Let's say again.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
As we come back to this room,
Shift your awareness to your body and breathe deeply,
Feeling your belly and your chest expanding and relaxing.
Relax the shoulders,
The hands,
The arms.
Relax the body.
Very slowly,
Start to move your body.
Feel your feet.
Move your toes.
Gently move your fingers.
Control your neck.
And when you are ready,
Slowly open your eyes.
Thank you for your kind attention.
I wish you many blessings along with the willingness and courage to find self-forgiveness as you proceed one day at a time.
