Self-Forgiveness This guided visualization lives into the idea of self-forgiveness imaginatively.
This exercise involves bringing to mind an issue for which you are struggling to forgive yourself.
If this issue arose out of an experience of abuse,
Severe trauma or tragedy,
This exercise may feel too emotionally sensitive for you and be disturbing rather than healing and comforting.
It is particularly important in that situation that you listen through this track first before you use it as an exercise.
Make your best and most loving judgement about whether to complete this exercise.
If you decide to use this exercise process but are left feeling unsettled,
Please seek out support.
Take some time to settle yourself in a place where you will not be disturbed.
Allow yourself to settle deeper into this still place through mindfulness,
Relaxation or prayer.
Become aware of your breath.
Follow it for a time,
In and out.
Allow your attention to rest on your breath.
Gently and repeatedly return your attention to your breath.
Some people find it helps to focus on the sensation of breathing in one place,
Perhaps the nose,
Shoulders,
Chest or abdomen.
When you become distracted and aware of thoughts,
Ever so briefly note the content and then gently return to your focus on the sensations of breath in this part of your body.
Once you are settled,
With your eyes closed,
See and experience yourself as you are seated in a particular room.
Bring to your mind the issue for which you are struggling to forgive yourself.
When you are clear about the issue,
Invite yourself,
The unforgiven part of you,
Into this space to sit in the same room with you.
Perhaps you are seated opposite each other with a desk between,
Or alongside each other in different chairs,
Or on the same couch.
Bring that picture clearly to mind.
Now see the space between you,
You and your unforgiven self,
Slowly lit up with loving light.
If you come from a tradition with prayer,
Or are open to using prayer,
You may want to ask for the spirit of light,
Love and forgiveness to be present and to strengthen you.
You may want to increase the intensity of the light in your mind's eye,
Or see the light touching,
Warming and healing the hurt and difficult spaces in this relationship you have to yourself.
Use your imagination to the full,
Allowing this loving light to shine on and change this relationship.
As you continue to see it in that place of loving light,
Ask yourself if you feel something that you have done and to no longer hold this matter against yourself.
Perhaps for the first time or the hundredth time,
Make the conscious choice to let go of this issue.
Feel what it is like to let go.
In whatever way feels right for you,
Imagine yourself conveying to this other part of you that you no longer hold this matter against yourself.
Notice how you both respond.
Allow your imagination to work to the full here.
If it feels right,
You may want to offer this other part of you a hug or a prayer or words of blessing.
Jesus sometimes said to the people he met,
Go in peace,
And he said to his disciples,
Peace be with you.
If these words feel right for you,
Please make them your own.
Take the time you need to complete this exercise in an unhurried way.
As you do it,
Notice any prompts to action that arise in you.
Is there a next step that suggests itself once the visualisation is over?
Gently acknowledge any prompts in your heart and mind.
You do not need to act now,
But only notice what arises for you.
When you are ready to leave this exercise,
Allow yourself some time to slowly shift from an inner focus back to a sense of yourself in the present moment.
It may help to notice the sensation of your body against your chair,
Then the sounds you hear around you,
And finally the things you see around you.
As you emerge from that focused place,
Remind yourself that this is an activity and a place for you.
What was this exercise like for you?
How might life be different from this moment?
Is there a challenge in this for you?
If so,
Does the next step suggest itself to you?
You may wish to journal about this experience or to discuss it with a friend.
