by Kym H. R. Kennedy

The concept of forgiveness isn't a new one. It is a common theme in religions and spiritual practices worldwide. Jesus Christ preached the concept of forgiveness, saying that we should forgive our enemies seventy times seventy times. I mean sure, everyone knows that forgiving one's trespasses is the "right" thing to do-but do we believe that it is really all that necessary? After all...there's plenty of justification for your ire...what he/she/they did to you was horrible! Those people don't deserve not one ounce of your forgiveness, right? Well...not exactly. You see, withholding forgiveness is the exact same thing as drinking poison and then expecting the other person to die. You may feel that those people do not deserve your forgiveness, but do you deserve the toxicity which un-forgiveness creates in your world? Of course not! We must learn to forgive-and here's why...

Our health depends on it. Most of us operate under the idea that we have one body, our physical body. In actuality we have other "subtle" bodies (etheric,mental,emotional,and spiritual) that surround our physical bodies. Even though we cannot see or physically feel these bodies, they are as much a part of us as our eyes, ears, legs and arms. When we hold onto anger, resentment and years of unforgiveness we create wounds in our subtle bodies. When left untended these wounds scream to be healed. The longer we ignore the wounds, and keep adding on to them, the heavier they get until eventually dropping down into our physical bodies. These wounds show up in our bodies in the form of cancerous tumors, heart dis-ease, diabetes, arthritis and any other ailment that you can think of. Even accidental injuries have their origin in the depression that is a direct result of resentment, hurt, anger and un-forgiveness.

Our productivity depends on it. In his book, Radical Forgiveness, Colin Tipping says that the energy it takes to hold onto a grudge can be likened to trying to hold a beach ball underwater. Have you ever tried to do that? It takes up quite a bit of energy! Now think about all of the resentment "beach balls" you are struggling to hold below your consciousness at any given time. Then add to that the fears and anxieties about the future that drain you in a similar fashion as the resentments from the past. That leaves precious little energy to do much more than tread water in the here and now.

Our prosperity depends on it. Abundance guru, Edwene Gaines, teaches us that all debt is is an acceptable form of self punishment. Subconsciously we feel guilty for holding on to resentment because our Higher Self knows better therefore, we unconsciously feel unworthy of the prosperous life that we desire and indeed deserve. Not only must we learn to forgive others, we must learn to forgive ourselves as well. We are spiritual beings having a human experience, not the other way around. The sooner we realize that we entitled to all the good that the Universe has to offer, the sooner we can release the past and fully enjoy the lavish opulance the God has made ready for us.

Finally, our joy depends on it. As I have said before, un-forgiveness is like living with a poison running through our bodies. It literally makes us sick. It's pretty difficult to be sick and joyful at the same time! Freedom from guilt, anger, hurt, and sadness is necessary to lead a joyful life. Peace, abundance, prosperity, adventure and enthusiasm cannot be expressed through a resentful consciousness. We can choose to do what it takes to release those "beach balls" so that our energy can be used to create a life that is full of joy.

Now, let's take a moment to talk about what I call "traditional" forgiveness. Traditional forgiveness is the type of forgiveness that most of us are familiar with. It's what we do when we say "You did me wrong...but I'm spiritual now so I forgive you." This is a good start, but it is really only the beginning. Radical Forgiveness , however, goes a step further. Radical Forgiveness, through the use of different tools and techniques, helps us to see how everything that happens to us is divinely orchestrated for our spiritual growth. EVERYTHING! Take a breath!

That does sound pretty Radical doesn't it? You see, we view our lives much the same way that we would view the backside of a tapestry. Everything looks like chaos with no rhyme or reason. If we could only flip the tapestry over we would see the perfect picture that all of the craziness on the back made possible. Since we can't know the mind of God, we must trust that what looks crazy from our "human" perspective, is actually necessary to create an ultimately beautiful life. Radical Forgiveness helps us to shift from a "victimhood" perspective to one that's in line with our Higher Selves so that we can successfully heal the emotional wounds that take up so much energy.

Since I started using Radical Forgiveness tools a year ago, I have experienced dramatic shifts in my life. I've also worked with many others who have enjoyed similar shifts by deciding to let go of their victimhood. If I can do it then I know that you too can have the healthy, productive, prosperous, joyful life that we all deserve!