LIFE NUGGET: FORGIVENESS

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"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - Mahatma Gandhi

Hardly a day goes by that someone somewhere does not do something annoying, embarrassing, or distasteful towards someone else. This is real life...on Earth, with different people exhibiting different behaviors. Of course there will be a few terrible things being done. But the extent of distasteful things that people do could shock even the devil. It's as if it is a paying job the way some people just go around saying and doing things that could ruin the mind, if not the life, of another person. Like their lives depended on being evil.

But as humans, sometimes our words or actions have a different effect on others than we thought or expected. We may want to say something to cheer someone up, but our words may end up depressing or annoying the person more. Or, we may innocently try to do something nice for, or play a mild prank on someone, but our actions may be misconstrued or blown out of proportion. In this case, it may not have been our intention, but we have somehow caused another person pain or discomfort.

When things like this happen, the first thing we can do is to own up to our words or actions and apologize. That part we can control. But whether or not the other person accepts our apologies, we can not control that. 

Some people hold on to things that people have done to them that made them feel bad. We hear things like "I'm not holding a grudge against her, I just don't like her anymore", "How could he/she say/do that to me?! It's unforgivable!", and so on. Some people have made themselves believe that some things are unforgivable, or that they are not capable of forgiving people. But I don't believe that. More like, I don't get that. How can you choose to keep things that make you sad and cause you pain in your heart? As against living stress-free and happy? 

Ireally don't understand that kind of self-torture. Life is already hard enough. There are a lot of things to enjoy in life. One of which is living. Holding grudges holds us back, even in the littlest of ways, from living and enjoying life to the fullest. It creates a barrier between us and those we hold the grudges against, and this sometimes affects our relationship with those around us. It could also cause us to lose opportunities. And in our businesses or work environment, it could impede progress and productivity when we decide to hold grudges against colleagues rather than working together as a team. 

We have more to gain in every area of our lives from forgiving people. Making forgiveness a part of your life is easier than you may expect. Just be the 'bigger person' when others say or do hurtful things to you, apologize first before smoothing things out later when everyone is calmer, remember that no one is above mistakes, and above all, never forget that it is in your benefit to have peace of mind and happiness. 

Here's to living a stress-free life!

With love...

- The Lady 

“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”

Matthew 18:21-22