The Bridge to Forgiveness

Say Yes: The Bridge to Forgiveness

Contemplation on the word, Forgiveness.

Saying, yes, to forgiveness is not something that I have to do.

Saying yes is a simple breath of allowance, that forgiveness would express itself through me. I say yes to allowing all the power of the Universe to express through me. This power is the peace of forgiveness. This frequency, this gift of forgiveness is always available to me. I need do nothing, but breathe and allow the movement and activation of the energy.

I don’t have to think about the trauma of what happened, or the story, or the person. When I say "yes", I am saying yes to the guidance that is awaiting my call for peace of mind, of heart, of spirit.

I only need to say yes; that I desire to cross the bridge of forgiveness. Then, I am saying yes to all the angels who will uplift me to lighten this load I am carrying. This load of anger, resentment, attack, justification, is just too heavy for me to carry alone across the bridge.

But I am never alone. My “yes” activates the movement of forgiveness, which carries me across the bridge on the wings of angels to transcend beyond pain and suffering to the “peace that passes all understanding”. I am now in a space where I am free of the need to “understand” the “why” of what went wrong, what happened. My thinking ego mind tells me that maybe if I could figure it out, then I could have some sense of control over it. Peace is beyond understanding. It’s not something that results from “figuring it out” or “understanding” why something happened, or if I could change the circumstance or the behavior of someone.

As I cross the bridge on angels’ wings, I am transcended to higher ground, to holy ground, where there is no need to do anything, think anything, but to simply Be in this presence of peace.

Forgiveness, then, is the ever present gift to say “yes”, to activate in times of trauma and pain when the ego mind demands satisfaction, attack, the need to know why, judgement and separation from the other. This is the ego’s go to, which will always block the peace that is beyond “understanding”. I can, even in the midst of my trauma, in any moment in time, simply pause and say “yes”, I am willing, it is my desire to find peace, it is my desire to cross the bridge of forgiveness. I say yes to you dearest angels, unburden me NOW, lift me up, carry me across. This small self, my ego mind, may kick, scream NO. But, my true Self says yes. Please carry me now across the bridge to the other side of forgiveness, which is immediate peace.

So, today has been an awakening for me about what forgiveness is. Forgiveness has always felt like something I have to do, or to be in a state of mind before I could extend it to another. I’ve always felt that if I could “understand” in my mind the situation or the person that hurt me or someone I loved, then, I’d be able to forgive. It felt like a magic act that I needed to perform, and that if I were spiritual enough, I’d be able to do it, achieve it. I’ve heard it said many times that forgiveness is really for yourself. Yet that never really resonated with me because it seemed like there was a missing piece. I’d feel like I was left hanging with these nagging questions: what am I supposed to do or feel about the other, the one who hurt me? Do I have to feel a kindness or love toward them? What if I don’t? That’s where the “forgiveness”, what I knew it to be, was blocked.

How heavy that forgiveness is!!! Not only am I holding my own pain, but now I have the pain of “forgiving” the other. This is just too heavy for me. I can’t get from here to there. I can’t even figure out what the word forgiveness means. I’ve been told for many years through religious teachings about what it means to forgive, and from my perspective, this meant that if I were pure enough, strong enough, holy enough, then I would be able to forgive. At least that’s how the word “forgiveness” came across to my inner child. I’m sure I have plenty of layers of guilt about my lack of forgiveness as well. So, it was just easier to stay in separation with my trauma. I’d just rather stay inside myself than extend a forgiveness that I can’t understand or that a “teacher” told me I have to do. It seems fake to me… again, like an illusory magic trick.

So, all of this I know. I know how the ego mind works. I know the impact of past conditioning about forgiveness, and I know that there was something beyond the word “forgiveness” that I couldn’t grasp. And that’s my block to forgiveness.

Forgiveness is not a word, nor an act, nor a trick played by the ego. It is allowing oneself to surrender into the flow, which is completely different from action. It is allowing oneself to be lifted up, carried across the bridge of forgiveness, to be enfolded into the energy of the “peace that surpasses all understanding”. Forgiveness is the movement and expression of grace itself, our divine gift, always present, waiting to be activated by the simple “yes” of allowance. Yes means the acceptance of what is, and then allowing myself to be uplifted. I know I am there when I feel peace, my mind is quiet, my heart is comforted. That is forgiveness. What a relief!!!! This bridge brings me home unto my Self.

I have a deeper wisdom now about “forgiveness” and what it means for me.

It really has nothing to do with the other person. It’s all about me.

It’s all about MY state of consciousness, not the other person who hurt me. Am I willing to say yes to help, acknowledging that I can’t do this? Am I willing to open my vulnerable heart and allow myself to surrender unto the arms of Spirit, transcending, uplifting, crossing the bridge to access the incomprehensible peace.

So, even though I may say, this is all about me, the truth is that when I am in that healing space of peace, when I have opened myself to receive this gift, then so too is this healing possible for the other who hurt me. Through the eyes of peace, I can truly see the light in my heart, and it is only from that space that I can truly see the light in all hearts. That is the quality of forgiveness, and that is the significance of Namaste: The light in me truly honors and acknowledges the light in you. I see myself reflected in that light, and we are One.