This Little Light of Yours…

I came across a lesson the other day that said, “Forgiveness is the key to happiness.” You may want to read that opening sentence again dear reader before you continue on and let it sink in just a bit. “Forgiveness is the key to happiness.” Not money, not bacon, not family, not cars, not rock and roll dreams and not a walk off homer into the bleachers on a summer afternoon. Forgiveness.

The idea here is to ultimately forgive everything, everyone and yourself on your way to true happiness. Now the ‘everything’ there is a bit tricky in that it’s hard for you to forgive the desk you’re writing on or the rain. The desk is an inanimate object and the rain is just a product of a larger system of weather and both are just doing their jobs so it becomes easy to forgive them for what they are since really they are not causing you any offense. ‘Everythings’ can be easily forgiven for any perceived offense because they are innocent of any wrong doings and because when viewed in the larger metaphysical sense, they are just another part of you and your dream anyway.

The ‘everyone’ part is the one that you’ll see thousands of times a day. (spoiler here dear reader, the solution is almost the exact same as the everythings) If I asked you to look for someone in your life that you need to forgive I’m sure a face would pop into your mind pretty quick. A family member, coworker, neighbor or classmate would probably be at the top of the list. So think about that person. You've already seen them. Now let’s do this together. First, think about two or three things that really annoy you about them. Ok, stop! I said only two or three, not two or three hundred. Easy right? Now think about one, just one thing that is that person’s best quality. Are they sincere? Are they dedicated to something? Are the passionate about something? What is it that they do that you find admirable or impressive? Now think about that one thing and see it coming from them as a beam of light, just shining out of them somehow, maybe from their chest or head or whatever.

Now I want you to hold that image and at the same time think of your best friend or partner or love or just someone that you really really like. What are their best qualities? I’m sure you can list quite a few. Now go back to the person that you don’t like that much and take their beam of light and move it over to your friend. Does it look right coming from them? Does your ‘enemy’ have a similar quality that your friend does? Can you see your friend as sincere, dedicated, or passionate? Of course you can.

The next time you see your ‘enemy’ or the first person you thought of, see that light coming from them first. Focus on that quality at all times. He/She is good at ______. He/She does ________ really well. Use that thought that beam of light coming from them to start replacing all the hundreds of faults you have with that person. Then start saying those out loud. ‘I forgive you ____ for being combative.’ ‘I forgive you _______ for being late for work.’ ‘I forgive you ______ for being indecisive.’ This list can go on and on. But, in the end you’ll find that it gets easier and easier to forgive them for what you perceive as ‘faults’ because just like the desk, they are not at fault. You have just as big of a roll to play in how you take they’re attributes and judge them as they do in delivering them.

I don’t like using all those yous and theys there to describe this because once you get into the process of forgiveness you’ll see that in the end it’s just we. The guy I can’t stand and my best friend have several things in common with each other and with me. We are all in this together and my interactions with each of them are only different because of the way I have chosen to judge them. Once I forgive them I will have accepted that forgiveness will give me everything that I want. And, happiness is what I want.

That’s what leads us to the ‘yourself’ portion of forgiveness. I’d like to spell all that out for you but I’m not quite ready for that just yet. (Maybe next week). But, I will say that once we’re able to wrap our heads around the concept that we are not fallible and full of sin we’ll be able to awaken and realize that as long as we can forgive in others what we have placed on them in the first place, we’ll find happiness. I explained this concept to myself the other day with the idea that: ‘That guy is a dick because I say he’s a dick. That guy is my friend because I say he’s my friend. Once I’m able to see that they are who they are because I’ve created them that way then I can begin to forgive both of us.’

If none of that made any sense dear reader I beg your forgiveness. Now forgive me and you’ll feel better. See! Easy as that. Not really.

I’ll continue this in a later post, but for now, try a little forgiveness and see.