Welcome to this meditation on forgiveness remembering that forgiveness does not mean being passive it does not mean not taking action it does not mean standing down when we need to protect ourselves or others from harm you must do what needs to be done and sometimes that means taking a pause,
Settling the mind and trying to see things as clearly as possible before taking considered action now the practice of forgiveness is something you might want to come back to over again and again that you're able to put those hot coals down either the ones that are burning you,
Because they're about you and maybe mistakes you've made or the hot coals that you'd like to throw into someone else's face but you feel are actually just not serving you,
And you may very well put them down find a comfortable position bring your awareness,
Your attention to the physical sensation of breathing notice the in and the out the rise and the fall notice the quality of the breath if something grabs your attention when the mind wanders off just note that and bring your attention back to the rise and fall of the breath we'll start by exploring you forgiving you this can be challenging and it can feel uncomfortable so if at any point you feel uncomfortable you can just come back to the sensations of the breath don't try and force anything bring to mind now something that you judge yourself and notice how you feel,
Even bringing it to mind allowing these phrases to wash over you or repeating them silently or out loud to yourself I forgive myself for not understanding I forgive myself for making mistakes I forgive myself for causing any pain and suffering to myself and to others bringing your attention back gently if it's wondered repeating the phrases again I forgive myself for not understanding I forgive myself for making mistakes I forgive myself for causing pain and suffering to myself and to others this type of practice can become uncomfortable so at any time with no judgement if it does become uncomfortable come back and focus on the breath you can always return to this practice in future when you're ready let's move on now to think about instances,
Circumstances where we feel we've been mistreated by others there will be experiences that were entirely wrong,
Outrageous or traumatic and that concretely require your care,
Attention and action there will also be instances where you feel that people could have treated you better should have known better and where you're holding on to those hot coals this practice is probably better suited to a scenario that isn't too deeply traumatic but instead relates to some hot coals you're holding on to wanting to throw at the person but actually something's telling you that it might be better and it might be more comfortable for you to put the hot coals down so bringing to mind a situation or circumstance where someone's behaviour was out of order and noticing how it makes you feel just thinking about that accepting,
Not judging letting the following words wash over you or repeating them silently or out loud to yourself I forgive you for not understanding I forgive you for making mistakes I forgive you for causing pain and suffering to me and to others I forgive you for causing pain and suffering to me and to others let's do that again remembering if it's too challenging you can always just listen and come back to it later holding the person in mind I forgive you for not understanding I forgive you for making mistakes and I forgive you for causing pain and suffering to me and to others again,
If it's too much,
Come back to the breathing or focus on the compassion that you've extended to yourself no resentment,
No judgement in these last few moments,
On each in-breath,
Noticing and accepting whatever it is you feel right now and on each out-breath,
As you would for a close friend,
A dear person offer yourself some kindness,
Some grace whatever you need right now you might want to hold your own hand,
Place a hand on your heart,
Place a hand on your belly accepting with the in-breath,
Caring with the out-breath come back to it when you need to and thank you so much for practicing with me today
