“The first to apologize is the bravest.  The first to forgive is the strongest.  The first to forget is the happiest” Author Unknown.

“It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light.”

“Illusions about yourself and the world are one.  That is why all forgiveness is a gift to yourself.  Your goal is to find out who you are, having denied your Identity by attacking creation and its source.  Now you are learning how to remember the truth.  For this attack must be replaced by forgiveness, so that thoughts of life may replace thoughts of death.” Course In Miracles

We hang on to anger and are unwilling to forgive because we feel wronged.  Why do we punish ourselves with rage?  Why do we make ourselves sick with hate?  Why do we hang onto the past only to relive and repeat those painful memories in our minds?

Guilt.  Some part of us feels stupid, complicit or powerless over the past so we are not ready to forgive.

Our own guilt keeps us angry.  We attack the other person thinking if we get restitution, vengeance, approval or validation then we will finally be happy.  We are not.  We will not be.  Remember winning?  Remember getting what we want?  Did we not find someone or something else to be angry at or about?  If we are honest we have gone through our entire life like this.

We may learn to repress the rage into depression, anxiety, obesity and so on.

We have not healed.  We have not learned.  Ever notice some people who are joyful.  They get bad news and shortly thereafter they are joyful.  They have hardships befall them and yet they are joyful.  They listen to us, comfort us and all the while they may be carrying an even heavier load of life’s inconveniences.  Yet they are joyful.

Every notice some people who seem to get everything they want and they never seem to be happy.  The have a rolodex of hurts, disappointments, pains and woes they use to justify their state of being.  They feel wronged.  They are in pain.  The are unable or unwilling to let go of that past experience.

We have all at one time or another been there.  We hold our resentment as precious cargo.  We feel justified or we may even know how it sickens us and yet we are not ready to let it go.  What would help us be ready?  Understanding what we gain from our effort and moving toward something positive in our life instead of trying to escape from something negative in our life.

“Remember that in every attack you call upon your own weakness, while each time you forgive you call upon inner strength.  Do you not then begin to understand what forgiveness will do for you?” – Course In Miracles

1.  It will remove the sense of weakness, strain and fatigue on your mind.

2.  It will take away all fear and guilt and pain.

3.  It will restore the invulnerability of your inner power and awareness

“Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.  I would fulfill my function that I may be happy.  I would remember this because I want to be happy.”  Course In Miracles.