Many of us want a plan for forgiveness.

We like “how to” manuals. We long for someone just to tell us exactly what to do and how to do it. That almost never works.

FORGIVENESS IS ALL UP TO YOU

The problem lies in the idea that someone else has the answers for us; that someone else knows how to forgive and heal us better than we can forgive and heal ourselves.

No doubt, many people on this planet can hold your hand, direct your thoughts, and share their personal experiences. They are invaluable experts who truly connect on a higher level. They can help us learn much about the world and our role in it.

I’ve worked with these kinds of people who have completely transformed my life. They go by the names of “coach,” “guru,” “healer,” and other similar titles.

I will always be grateful for their wisdom. However, when it comes to forgiving and healing yourself, YOU are the expert.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO FORGIVE

Not everyone knows how to forgive one’s self, and that’s okay. You only have to want to.

If you get out of your head, open up your heart, and call out to the Divine Source, letting her know you’re reading, she will point you toward precisely what you need to do.

If you get out of your head, open up your heart, and call out to the Divine Source, letting her know you’re reading, she will point you toward precisely what you need to do.

Ask, listen, and the answers will be given to you.

For the doubting soul inside of you that thinks this approach just isn’t possible to you, allow me to offer you my guidance humbly.

The offering below isn’t meant to be a “done for you” text or a “be all, end all” method of forgiveness.

It’s meant to kick-start your forgiveness journey and show you that you are the go-to person for everything in your life. It’s expected to show you how powerful you indeed are.

I ask that you be totally present through this experience and if at any time you feel you should be doing something differently or going in a different direction, listen to that voice.

Trust your instinct, listen to your inner brilliance, and make this experience yours.

Let’s begin.

BUT HERE’S HOW TO FORGIVE YOURSELF

1. Acknowledge there is something you need to forgive yourself for. Allow yourself to reopen that moment in time, that wound, that experience.
2. Go back and relive every moment of it. Think about the choices you made and why you made them. Remember how you felt every step of the way.
3. Own the sadness, shame, guilt, and realize you were doing the best you could with what you had at that given moment. Know that it was the right choice for you, and the decision that forever altered your journey and set you on a path to carrying out your purpose on this planet. There have been many choices like this one, each essential, life-changing, perfect, whole, and necessary.

INHALE AND EXHALE

4. Take a deep breath. Breathing in all these thoughts and feelings. Then exhale and forgive yourself for carrying this burden with you all this time.
5. Forgive yourself for allowing it to hold you back from living the life you are meant to live. Know that it all led up to this moment where you realize it was all part of your story and was meant to happen just as it did. Focus on this thought. Hold it in your mind’s eye and realize the depth of its truth.
6. Give yourself permission to let it go. Let the thought, the choices you made, and the feelings that transpired as a result of those decisions go and forgive yourself completely.
7. Acknowledge that you needed this chain of events to become the person you are. Vow to love yourself completely, fully, and not in spite of but because of these events.

LET GO OF THE PAST

Holding onto the past is one of the most profound pains one will ever know. It’s only through releasing our attachment to that pain that we grow and move forward into our destinies.

I genuinely believe forgiveness is the answer to almost everything.

Make the conscious decision to let go and move into the present where you will remain — glowing, perfect, and a child of this Universe loved beyond measure.

You are, at this moment, whole, complete, and loved.

Love others in this way. Carry this experience forward.

Live consciously. Love.

Above everything else, love.