Greatest Hits Vol. 3 - Forgiveness

<p>Here we are - at the end of the year, maybe looking back and wondering how it all happened the way it did. Maybe holding some grudges or deep resentments...or shame about how we showed up. The good news is, if we want to, we now have a chance to do things differently.<br /> </p><p><br /> </p><p>Ultimately, we all get to <strong>choose </strong>how we want to show up every <i>day</i>, but there’s something significant about how we move into the next year and how it can set the tone for what is to come. </p><p> </p><p>You know we’re all about Freedom here at the Rebel Buddhist – inside and out. One of the things I’ve found that we can do to give us the most emotional freedom in the next year is to partake in the courageous act letting go of things that no longer serve us, and one of the most radical acts we can do to let go, one of the things we can do for ourselves that can truly help us feel more light and free…is forgiving.</p><p> </p><p>Forgiveness has been a huge practice for me - and I say <i>practice</i> because I’m still learning how to do it with things that have really cut me deep. It’s like each year I can get to a deeper layer of forgiveness - and I want to keep going, however hard it may be a lot of the time, because I believe that the lack of forgiveness and the need for forgiveness are some of the biggest challenges many of us face.</p><p><br /> </p><p>One of the most powerful things I ever did was forgive my mom for abusing me as a child.</p><p><br /> </p><p>You see, I had a lot of anger about my childhood for many years. I was uber-pissed, and for objectively good reasons.</p><p><br /> </p><p>I won’t go into details, but you can imagine the myriad reasons people feel wounded and broken.  Many of those things happened as I was growing up, but regarding my mother specifically, I was so angry that she hurt me physically and emotionally.  I was resentful that I didn’t have a mom I felt safe with, and that I was this angry person walking around, blowing up at my boyfriends, feeling defensive, and eas