Forgiveness Meditation

A gentle life review, a letting go of the past, even forgiving those who have hurt us. And we need also to forgive ourselves so we can move on and improve. This meditation has been re-recorded with a gentle music background as a greater aid to getting into its spirit

Transcript

Dear friends,

Welcome to this meditation which is in the nature of a life review and letting go of the past.

Can we begin by making sure that we are comfortable and in a position that helps meditation?

See if we can allow ourselves to relax and if we notice any tension see if we can manage to let it go.

Maybe tension in the shoulders.

If you feel that crunch the shoulders up tight and then let them deliberately relax and see if that makes a difference.

You may feel tension in your chest so take a few deep breaths and as you breathe out just let things go and see if that helps to let the tension go.

An opening reflection.

May I be reminded today of my highest aspirations.

May I be inspired to bring gifts of love and service to the altar of humanity.

May I come to realize that I am not an isolated being but that I am connected in mystery and in miracle to the universe and the this community.

Help me to realize that I am not alone.

Following the theme for this meditation we look now at the question of forgiveness.

We take a minute or two to look back at our life and see if we can call to mind some occasions where we fell short of what we knew to be right and we give ourselves the opportunity to put this behind us.

You might think of situations of unkindness,

Dishonesty,

Meanness,

Selfishness,

Something that looking back at your life you wished you had never done.

We have all things in our past that we regret.

It helps to realize that many of the unskillful things we do arise from ignorance,

From fear,

Loneliness,

Anger,

Pain or misunderstanding.

So now just notice the pain you might have caused others and feel a sense of sorrow and regret.

Realize that finally you can release that burden and ask for forgiveness.

Take as much time as you need to picture each memory that causes upset.

You can pause this recording if you need to and then as each person or event comes to mind gently say something along these lines.

In this present moment I ask for your forgiveness.

I'm sorry,

Please forgive me.

In this present moment I ask for your forgiveness.

I am sorry,

Please forgive me.

Next we go on to consider ourselves and just as we have harmed others maybe we have judged and abandoned and betrayed others so at the same time we have hurt ourselves,

We've abandoned our highest aspirations and we have fallen short of our own ideals.

We take a little while now to feel all the ways that we may have caused suffering to ourselves,

To our bodies,

Our minds,

Our hearts,

Just as we have caused sorrow to others.

Let's notice the burden we've been carrying from this and allow ourselves to feel a sense of sorrow and regret and again pause the recording if you need to.

When you're ready say to yourself words such as this.

In this present moment I offer myself forgiveness for all the ways I have messed up and caused pain to myself as well as to others.

I forgive myself,

I am sorry,

I offer myself forgiveness.

In this present moment I offer myself forgiveness for all the ways I have messed up and caused pain to myself as well as to others.

I forgive myself,

I am sorry,

I offer myself forgiveness.

Then there are many ways that other people have hurt and harmed us.

We have been betrayed and abandoned or at least we have felt betrayal and abandonment.

So now we take a little while to notice the pain others might have caused us,

How we felt at the time,

How those feelings might be lingering in our memory now,

Notice any resentment we might still feel and stay with that for a few moments.

Our thoughts in this situation.

To the extent that I am ready I turn my heart in the direction of forgiveness.

To the extent that I am ready I offer you forgiveness.

I release you,

I will not carry the pain of hate in my heart.

To the extent that I am ready I forgive you.

And finally we call to mind some good action or good deed we have performed,

Maybe some kindness that we have long forgotten but it comes to mind now when we ask ourselves to look back.

Keep that good deed in mind for a few moments.

Think of how it felt at the time,

How it feels now when it's brought back to mind.

Notice the difference between this feeling and the feelings of guilt that we have just released.

Notice how much better it feels when we do good.

Today I rededicate myself to the doing of good.

Today I rededicate myself to the finding of opportunities to do good.

In all this remember we are not bad people trying to be good,

We are good people trying to be better.

Closing thought.

There is a saying that it's easier to forgive our enemies after we've gotten even with them but could you call that forgiveness?

When we respond to hurt by hurting,

When we respond to insult by insulting,

To indignity by degrading,

When we respond in kind are we not merely adding hate and darkness to a world that needs love and light?

Are we not keeping open the wounds in ourselves by inflicting wounds on others?

To heal we must forgive.

We just must gather strength and insight and compassion and kindness and love and hard as it might be at times we just have to learn to forgive.

Let us forgive those who wrong us because they do not know any better.

Let us forgive those who wrong us even though they know well what they do.

Let us forgive even those who do not yet ask to be forgiven.

And let us not forget to forgive ourselves.

We can be the most unforgiving when it comes to ourselves.

We carry heavy burdens of guilt,

Burdens that weigh us down and drain our energy when we try to do good.

We need to drop that burden and take part again in the good race of life.

So let us in this spirit of forgiveness gather all that we can of strength and insight and compassion and kindness and love so that the spirit of forgiveness may shape the days of our lives beginning with this very moment.

Namaste.

You you

Reviews

A much needed reflection however hard it may be..love your meditations Tony..they are like a warm hug of forgiveness in themselves.

This meditation was exactly what I needed today 🙌

Such a lovely meditation, it felt wonderful to forgive. Thank you Tony.

Absolutely brilliant, thank you. Wil share this.🙏❤️

I needed to hear this meditation so much. Thank you Tony for these gentle reminders. Forgiveness is so powerful and so needed to bring peace into our lives.

Just comprehensive, deep, thoughtful, freeing, and powerful. Thank you Tony.

Thank you very much for filling up my mind and soul with the spirit of forgiveness. What a great gift to others and ourselves! 🤓🙏🏻

Tony🙏thank you for this beautiful forgiveness meditation💛🪷

Thank you Tony for this beautiful journey into the freedom and lightness which forgiveness brings.

Oh gosh this was powerful! I’ve been dealing with trying to forgive and it’s been difficult. Thanks l will definitely come back to listen and work on this. Your message was beautiful! 🙏🏻💕

This is very powerful. I love everything about this meditation.. Thank you, Tony. :)

Tony, this still one of my favorite teachings of yours. My lesson is that to be truly 'free' I must forgive AND let go, no longer live in the remembrances of past hurts, neither those those done to me or committed by me.

Thank you, Tony. One of your best meditations... a 20th century French philosopher, Derrida, wrote "Forgiveness is the the horizon of man"... Let's walk together, through compassion, to the horizon and beyond. Namaste

Just what I needed to hear. Thank you with all my heart for this beautiful meditation. 🙏🏼

Thank you so much good dear sir. This was very timely as I am sure it always is...but it stopped the spiral of unforgiveness & guilt before the wheel was grounded.
in gratitude,
🌻🙇‍♀️🌻

Today I am struggling with forgiveness. This meditation is exactly what I needed to hear. Such a beautiful meditation. I thank you Tony, and hope you are healthy and safe.

This is gold! For the first time I had tears in my eyes while meditating! This is crazy. Your voice is so profound and soothing and the words chosen were amazing and touching.
Thanks very much for this meditation.

Dear Tony thank you for sharing this. It was very difficult for me and I felt safe with you. The full moon feeling very powerful and healing bringing stuff to the Light.

With immense gratitude. The patchwork of my life is now sewn with stronger thread!

Thank you Tony, I needed this so much today and it really helped me feel peace. ❤️