Lately, I’ve been missing my friends who I’ve let go of. This prompted me to write about forgiveness.
I’m not the kind of person who let’s go but stops loving, which is why I miss them.
There are three types of forgiving; internal, external, and societal.
Internal Forgiveness
Internal Forgiveness is best for understanding how and when to forgive yourself.
This can be done when you make a mistake, feel bad about an action and consequence of that action, or when you don’t do your best on something.
It’s all about how you feel internally and express those feelings of yourself towards your inner self.
Self compassion also goes a long way.
Understanding that forgiveness is not getting rid of the experience, consequence or unfinished task, but allows you to be gentle with your self by forgiving, rather than self hatred, or diving into a deeper negative emotion.
External Forgiveness
External Forgiveness is important when considering the actions of others.
Internal forgiveness plays a role in how we handle external forgiveness because the actions of others can affect your ability to forgive yourself.
In a situation of a relationship that ended on uneasy terms, it may be simple and easy to forgive the other person, but to forgive yourself for the uneasy ending may prove more difficult if the actions of your past are affecting your internal self.
For example, if the other person never replied to a message or a phone call, though you may have forgiven them externally, your own internal forgiveness is altered by the feelings of beating yourself up for sending that message, or making that call.
Societal Forgiveness
Societal forgiveness is important when considering the collective actions of a community, organization, company, or government (others).
Why is forgiveness important to something so far away from my personal self, my experiences and my opinions?
It’s important because the actions of others, come with consequences that impact us as individuals.
The action of the US President Donald Trump on twitter, affects thousands and thousands of people.
Donald Trump is probably the best example of where societal forgiveness is important.
Not every American voted for him.
So I’m suggesting that letting go of the harsh, negative feelings associated with the societal action of electing Donald Trump, is the purpose of societal forgiveness.
Remember…
Forgiving is a process.
That doesn’t mean it cannot be achieved, it just means it takes time, patience, and commitment to forgiving yourself, others, and the actions of society as a whole.
It takes internal work to begin forgiving on the external and societal level.
Self compassion goes a long way in this process.
So does being gentle, light, and understanding with yourself for having these feelings in the first place.
I’m not saying we need to ignore the actions of others or just forgive and forget the actions of society.
The argument I’m making says we need to practice forgiveness because these levels are all connected.
Feeling angry at society for electing Donald Trump is going to make me angry, not anyone else.
My feelings affect me, and only me.
However, my actions, words, and tone of voice, affect others.
Blessings,
With love and light,
Stay true stay weird.
~~ Kristina