(But who is the teacher, and where are the holy books?)



Forgiveness is a spiritual path, not a religion. The teacher that guides you is the Infinite Essence that lives eternally within you. The holy books are the stories of your own life. Within them are clues...and treasures...hidden inside even the most painful and traumatic events.

Go deeply into the painful memories you carry, and you will find the possibility of forgiveness. Tenderly hold the emotions of sadness, anger and fear, and witness them with simplicity. Breathe deeply and become aware of the waves of thought and emotion...rising and falling, arising and passing away. Notice and receive: your mind, your tender places, your breath.

Just sit down in the middle of your heart. If you ask yourself, ?What is really happening here? What am I thinking and feeling, and is there more truth that I can find?" you will feel the intense relief that comes when all the running stops. You are no longer panicking, avoiding, judging and blaming (the ?usual? human response), so there is now room for acceptance...opening...and light. Breathe oxygen into your body, filling it with the strength and sincerity of your awakening soul essence.

Allow any waves of emotion to wash through you, and notice that each one comes and goes just like ocean waves come and go along the shoreline. Using your exhale, breathe pain and sadness out of your body, heart and mind. Trace the cause of your emotion back to old emotional injuries, hard times and sad times. Inside your memories, you'll find some unexamined beliefs about the world that you thought were true.

If you examine them carefully, with full self-responsibility, you may see that there is a possibility of releasing these thoughts and beliefs ? not because it is the ?right thing to do?, or to benefit someone else ? but because your soul longs for the freedom of living without them. Letting go of painful thoughts and beliefs is the path of forgiveness. By accepting and releasing what is painful, there is more room for your essential nature to shine from within. Each new opening of your heart will allow energetic blocks to unwind. Your energy meridians will be freed....your blood will be enlivened. And because the outer world is a direct reflection of your inner mind, new events will occur in your life that will reflect the new openings of love blossoming in your heart.

Test the possibility that every experience, no matter how painful, was a life lesson prescribed by your soul's journey. Perhaps...life itself is a school, and everything that has ever happened (yes, all of it) is part of your lesson plan. Custom tailored ? just for you.

It's not as personal as you've been taught to think. In fact, on certain levels, Life isn't personal at all.

Yet having an individual identity is part of what happens here on Earth. ?What happens to us? appears personal and painful moments do occur.

So do ecstasies and intimacies.

With an understanding that forgiveness is a spiritual path, you can navigate your inner realms with new precision. Both the World of Humanity (in which we seem to be separate and alone) and the World of Divine Truth (where we are eternally connected to our Source) can be welcomed and embraced. You will begin to watch with fascination as themes and patterns in your life emerge for healing.

With support and self-acceptance, you will begin to reveal to yourself your own true nature...Divine Love. As clear channels open within you, you will be sustained and renewed. What follows will be a direct, mystical experience into the realms beyond words. Unity, instead of duality, will begin to be your state of awareness.

Do you want to begin? Breathe. Release. Relax. Revel in this Life!