How to Forgive

<p>You know we’re all about Freedom here at the Rebel Buddhist – inside and out.</p><p>One of the things I’ve found that we can do to give us the most <strong>emotional </strong>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 <strong>truly </strong>help us feel more light and free...is <strong>forgiving</strong>.</p><p>So that’s what we’re talking about in this New Year’s Eve podcast episode: how to forgive.</p><p>I believe that the lack of forgiveness and the <strong>need </strong>for forgiveness are some of the biggest challenges many of us face.</p><p>One of the most powerful things I ever did was forgive my mom for abusing me as a child.</p><p>You see, I had a lot of anger about my childhood for many years. I was uber-pissed, and for <strong>objectively </strong>good reasons.</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 <strong>specifically</strong>, 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 easily losing my shit.</p><p>“What a bitch for making me so angry!” I’d think to myself.</p><p>And it was weighing me down.</p><p>It was also impacting my relationship with <strong>her</strong>...with her as an older, gentler, less angry woman who wanted to be close to me.</p><p>While I was angry and bitter, for a long time, in the end I knew that deep down, despite her mistakes, she was doing the best she could in the moment with what she had available to her.</p><p>So, as an adult, I had a choice to make:</p><p>1) I could keep reminding myself and my mom that things really sucked growing up and about how much she hurt me, and that I was all sensitive an