Forgiveness
Author: Athene Raefiel

Many people believe that they can leave the past behind simply by not thinking about it. The past, the present and the future are all interconnected and one part cannot exist without the others. When we push the past away we begin to stuff our feelings. We become disconnected and fragmented. We no longer give our feelings any validity and stop trusting our feelings. We insulate and isolate unable to deal with emotional situations that happen in our personal lives. We try to use logic to resolve emotional situations and usually fail miserably in this endeavor.

Logic and emotion must find a balance in our lives if we are to be healthy. Denying how we feel about the situations in our life is self-destructive. When we stuff our emotions they do not go to a different place, but still lie beneath the surface smoldering, waiting for an opportunity to emerge. Unexpressed, repressed emotions eventually take their toll in some manner. Many people find themselves taking serious medication such as antidepressants just to get through daily life. Others go out and kill people, while still others develop diseases such as cancer and debilitating arthritis.

Forgiveness is the most powerful tool we have in our possession to deal with repressed emotions. We all feel victimized by the seeming injustices that take place in life. Few of us do anything about those feelings.

By forgiving other people the circumstances and your self, that have occurred in life, your experience of life becomes transformed. We cannot simply pay lip service to forgiving we must seriously delve inside of ourselves and admit that we are the one who has been repressing our emotions. We must make a conscious effort to do whatever it takes to make peace with the past and ourselves.

If I hate someone and carry this feeling around with me for twenty years, I am not hurting the other person, but I am hurting myself. By holding onto this feeling of hatred, I also attract others into my life with the same problem. Together we begin to feed off of each other’s hate and begin hating each other. This occurs because like energy attracts.

If I feel victimized by life and hold onto this emotional energy then I will attract others into my life that are also victims. Once again we will feed off of each other emotional energy and eventually become one another’s victims. This is the law of Universal attraction in action.

Some people feel it is easier to forgive another for a wrongdoing that transpired while others easily forgive themselves. True healing within the emotions can take place only when you can forgive both yourself and the others involved. We cannot tell ourselves we forgive we must know though the balance of our feelings.

Following are exercises to aid you with forgiveness. You may do these exercises while sitting in a chair or lying in bed at night before going to sleep. These exercises should be used often even daily if possible.

Exercise I
Life Review
While lying in bed at night begin to review your life. Start at the age you are now and continue back one year at a time. Say the age as you do this, such as 49 and simply see what memories come. When you come to a memory about yourself that does not feel good it is time to process with forgiving. Simply allow your self to clearly receive the image of what the situation was about and begin to forgive yourself for the feelings in the situation. Then see if you can understand how to forgive the other person or people involved. When no more memories come up for that year go down one year to age 48 and so forth. Write down the year you stop with each time and when you do this exercise again start at that age. This is an exercise that may take many nights to work with. Be Patient.

Exercise II
The Sacred Path
Put on some soothing relaxing music and start letting go of all your daily stress. Feel the stress moving down your body starting at the top of the head and moving down out your arms and hands, down your torso and legs, and out through your feet. Begin to drift, breathing comfortably let your self float to a peaceful place in nature. This spot is filled with greenery and beauty. Spend a few moments enjoying your new surroundings and see a traveler guiding you to a pathway. Travel this pathway and meet yourself as a child. Be gentle with yourself and the child. Together recall the memories of the past that need to be resolved.

Exercise III
Sacred Path Continued
Use the format of the sacred path. After reaching your place in nature use follow your pathway with your child-self meeting the others in your life you need to do forgiveness work with. Converse with each person you meet until you can come to a place of forgiveness. In doing this exercise often you will discover the many layers of feelings you need to work through.

Forgiveness is an amazing tool. It is a tool that can be implemented daily. For example: you are at work and someone is getting on your nerves. You say to yourself: " I forgive myself for attaching to energies that are not mine." ”I forgive this person for being who they are." You can choose whether to make the problem yours or not. You need not always be subject to another’s energy.

If you do this exercise and the circumstance still bothers you, perhaps the situation is triggering an emotional response that you need to look at. Now you say to yourself, “ This person is getting on my nerves. This brings up a feeling of frustration or confusion, perhaps anger or intimidation.” These feelings within you are yours, even though the other person is the catalyst. Now you say, “I forgive myself for feeling frustrated [or whatever the feeling is], and I release and let go of this feeling from within.”

You will only achieve the desired results through the continuous use of these exercises.

Exercise IV
INTENSIVE REPATTERNING
This chakra exercise will help you to clear any unwanted pattern from your auric field. Set aside twenty minutes and sit for the exercise. As you begin to observe your behaviors you discover patterns that you really wish to change. Take one pattern at a time. For example an accepted pattern might be pain and suffering. Think about how pain and suffering make you feel. Then close your eyes and say:

"I forgive myself for accepting the belief pattern of pain and suffering. I release that pattern from within my soul self."

"I forgive myself for accepting the belief pattern of pain and suffering. I release that pattern from within my root chakra and physical self."

"I forgive myself for accepting the belief pattern of pain and suffering. I release that pattern from within my spleen chakra and emotional self."

"I forgive myself for accepting the pattern of pain and suffering. I release that pattern from within my solar plexus and mental self."

"I forgiver myself for accepting the belief pattern of pain and suffering. I release that pattern from within my heart chakra and astral self."

"I forgive myself for accepting the belief pattern of pain and suffering. I release that pattern from within my throat chakra and causal self."

"I forgive myself for accepting the belief pattern of pain and suffering. I release that pattern from within my brow chakra and celestial self."

"I forgive myself for accepting the belief pattern of pain and suffering. I release that pattern from within my crown chakra and God self."

Choose any pattern you feel is keeping you from feeling confident. For most people those patterns are guilt, shame, insecurity, victimization, sadness, anger, resentment, and so on. This exercise helps bring you into balance with your emotions.

There is probably no greater tool for healing than forgiveness. When we are able to forgive we are able to truly love ourselves. Love is the ultimate achievement in a person’s life. When we become love we attract love to us, we become loved.






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Athene is a Teacher of Mysticism and Enlightenment. She has helped clients through her clairvoyance, intuitive counseling and hypnotherapy work since 1984. She works with people from all walks of life and is known for her integrity, gentleness and accuracy. Learn more about Athene at www.atheneraefiel.com.

Above excerpt taken from Athene's book "Getting to the Heart: a Journey of Soul Transformation and Spiritual Enlightenment" available in bookstores everywhere.

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