#90 Soft Heart

I thought it pertinent to follow up from my last blog post on unconditional love with these thoughts relative to forgiveness. I realize that we’ve all heard these themes hundreds of times in our lifetime, from the pulpits of our churches to various self-improvement books. And, no doubt, you’ve said the same thing to yourselves after hearing them; ‘easier said than done.’ However, I’d like to address this from a little deeper perspective.

I would like to appeal to your spiritual self, your soul… the real you. When you chose to come here to experience physical life, you left behind your origin. The all-encompassing love that you really are. Physical life is tough. We let go of our oneness with all things and plunged into a world of not only linear time, but of separation and duality. On top of that we have to deal with each other’s personalities, some of which can be challenging to say the least. 

With that in mind, we often times hold on to hurt caused by someone’s words or actions. This is harmful to mental, physical and emotional health. And, if you stew over these negative feelings, it’s likely you’ll feel worse. It’s not until you’re willing to let go of these troubling emotions that the healing begins. 

Forgiveness is healing. If you stop to think a minute that what was said or done may have been unintentional, or the one who hurt you may even be unaware of your pain, you open the door to compassion. There is nothing more soothing to the soul than compassion for another person because when you give to one, you are also giving to yourself. 

Don’t forget to put the shoe on the other foot. Haven’t you caused either intentional or unintentional harm to another at one point or another? Would you not want forgiveness? Of course you would. Everyone makes mistakes because that’s how we learn in this physical realm. Mistakes aren’t a bad thing; they are simply growth opportunities. 

Remember that you are a spiritual being, having a human experience. You are also divine love. It is part of our purpose to express it during our time on earth. Some might say that the practice of a soft heart opens one up to more hurt and pain. To that I would say not necessarily. The reason is that in living with a soft heart, you are displaying peace, contentment and harmony in your own life, and because of the law of reciprocity, what you put out, you tend to get back.