Forgiveness is a common habit of the strong. Do you need strength in your marriage, at your workplace or in your own personal development? Choosing forgiveness proves to be a critical part of your present and future happiness. It’s a brave choice and one that heals the emotional wounds that weaken you. But what happens when that healing is tested? If you’ve developed a habit of choosing forgiveness, you’ve got this! If you have not, now is a great time to get stronger! Develop your forgiveness lifestyle.
Choosing a Forgiveness Lifestyle
Do you believe that your success, happiness, and healthy self-image happen by accident or by the design of your chosen lifestyle? If your answer is “the design of your chosen lifestyle,” I couldn’t agree more. There are always circumstances, key events, and critical choices you make along the way that lead you to a particular destination. These decisions are like mile markers along a road that’s either going somewhere good or nowhere fast.
FORGIVENESS IS ONE OF THESE TYPES OF DECISIONS.
You can develop a lifestyle of forgiveness and gracious thinking, or you can slowly succumb to one of unforgiveness and judgmental thinking. One strengthens you and leads to freedom. The other weakens you and leads to bondage. And it starts with the moment you feel offended or hurt. That’s when you must decide whether you will hold onto those emotions and become offended or hurt. Holding onto the hurt literally traps you in a downward spiral of negative emotions and damaging decisions. Which lifestyle have you chosen in the past?
Do you have scars? Or are they wounds?
Unforgiveness is like an open wound. It’s said that “time heals all wounds.” But does it really? I submit to you that this can only be true if you’ve decided to forgive.
Wounded people are weakened by the pain of their past. They have not healed yet. Forgivers, on the other hand, have scars. But these scars are like badges of courage, signs of a fight well fought. It took strength and critical thinking to choose forgiveness. In their purest form, scars are proof that healing has taken place. Even though you can still see them, scars don’t hurt when touched.
In other words, an open wound in your life leaves you vulnerable to be hurt there again. A scar is evidence of healing and an area of your life that’s been reinforced and strengthened with healthy choices and positive beliefs.
Become a Serial Forgiver with 3 Daily Actions
Don’t let the chains of the past and wounds of unforgiveness hold you back from being all that you are meant to be.
What stands in your way? If you feel stuck in unforgiveness that is weakening you… OR if you simply want to be stronger in every area of your life, become a Serial Forgiver! You can develop the habit of forgiving early and often and you’ll find that you become more and more difficult to offend.
START HERE WITH THESE 3 DAILY ACTIONS:
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Use the Golden Rule.
If you are willing to cancel the debt and release the expectation that your offender owes you something (like an apology), you’ll be treating them the way you would want to be treated. You don’t need the apology to heal. In fact, if you do need that, then you cannot truly be free of that person. Furthermore, their power over you will keep you weak. Release them and free yourself.
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Get Real! Forgetting May (or may not) Happen.
Real forgiveness is possible when you don’t place the expectation on yourself that you also have to forget what happened. That’s not a reasonable expectation for a limited human. Forgetting, if it happens, is something that time can take care of.
Remember, scars can still be seen. You will have to continue to choose forgiveness any time the memory of the offense comes back. And just like scars that become faint and barely visible over time, the memories of forgiven hurts also fade.
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Develop Your Inner Strengths to Stay Strong
To develop a lifestyle of strength and freedom, you must learn to be a serial forgiver. You’ll need to know what kind of forgiver you are and what inner strengths help you make this daily decision. Are you an optimistic, light-hearted forgiver or a cautious, concerned forgiver? Are you the calm and logical forgiver? Or are you the emotional, sensitive forgiver?
Your inner design reveals custom-made solutions, driven by the intelligent use of inner strengths. Discover these strengths and practice using them daily.
Learn more with this FREE assessment of your inner strengths: and this Guide to Breaking Free and Staying Free by Ray W. Lincoln.