Season of Forgiveness

     Forgiveness needs no special season.  Still, we humans have a tendency to hold onto resentments and procrastinate about letting them go.  Choosing one season during the year to do a mass human forgiveness ritual makes the process feel safer.  "If everybody's doing it, I'll go along.  I don't want to be the only one."

     Sometime in the future, people may not mind being the only one, but right now let's agree to do it together.  Think about the people you need to forgive.  Make a list.  The names might include family members, co-workers, your boss, the government, your clients or customers, your neighbors, or the "terrorists" of the world.

     Why did I put the word terrorists in quotes?  My friends, we all are potential terrorrists.  We all have thoughts of harming others or wishing them bad consequences for something they did.  Some people dwell on such thoughts regularly.  You say, "I never acted on those thoughts."   No, but you did release them into the world just by thinking them.  Those negative thoughts added to the level of terrorism in the world.  Almost no one is innocent of contributing to terrorism.
 
     We have an opportunity to do a mass catharsis or cleansing of these negative intentions.  I am calling for a season of forgiveness from December 15-31, 2007.  Do not carry the burden of resentment into the new year.

     Scientists now know that the first person harmed by your resentment is you.  It poisons your body and affects your health.  You might never have made this connection.  Your realizing or not realizing the self-destructive impact of your thoughts makes no difference.  The process goes on outside your conscious mind.

     Now you can change all that.  Pick up the phone and make amends.  Write a letter.  Send an e-mail.  Issue an invitation to dinner or a visit.  Pray for the well being of the other person.  Forgive yourself for holding on to the resentment so long.  Repeat for ten days this affirmation:  I release and dissolve any negative thoughts or intentions that I have had concerning (name).  I release and dissolve them completely.  I forgive myself for any and all resentments I have held in the past.  I am free.  My burden is lifted.  Love now flows through me, and I send love into the world.  Thank you, God.  Do this and the world will be a safer place for all of us.

Love and light,

Patricia Churchill