I
recently made a big mistake; I spammed over 5000 people. It was not
one of my finest moments, but it was a mistake—I didn’t start out the
day deciding I wanted to piss off a bunch of people I didn’t know.
When I realized what happened I didn’t respond perfectly (what a
surprise.) I blamed myself. I blamed other people. I tried to find
fault.
I realized my response wasn’t helping anyone, so I started using a tool I
employ when I want to forgive myself and others. I will share it in a
bit because it is awesome to help facilitate forgiveness, but not quite
yet…
The problem was, in attempting to jump to forgiveness, I was bypassing
my feelings. Instead of feeling my response to the situation, I was
trying to do the “correct” thing, to forgive right away.
You may remember my April newsletter talked about not bypassing big
feelings like fear. It outlined how being with our feelings can help
them pass more quickly. It is a powerful practice and I totally forgot
about it as I was trying to not feel bad, and was pinning fault on
whomever I could.
As I was sitting there, trying to forgive, I quickly realized there was
no way I could forgive anyone, especially myself, in that moment.
I was angry, and I was scared that 5000 people hated me and were cursing
my existence. So I stopped trying to forgive and I just felt my anger
and my fear. I cried, my body shook, and I allowed my feelings. It felt
awful, and then it felt freeing. I took a deep breath.
After I had done the work of simply feeling my feelings, I could move on to the next step—forgiveness.
My favorite tool to foster forgiveness is The Loving Kindness prayer Thich Nhat Hahn shares. Below is a version I use:
May I be safe.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be well.
May I know the light of my own true nature.
May you be safe.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be well.
May you know the light of my own true nature.
I
always say it to myself first, because I am the one who needs it the
most! Then I say it to the person, or people, or group with whom I am
angry. I say it every time anger arises within me. I keep saying it
until I feel calm and at peace. Sometimes this takes a lot of
repetitions!
When I say this prayer, it focuses my mind on what I actually want to
feel. I do wish we all felt safe, were free from suffering, were well,
and knew the light of our true nature, even when we make mistakes.
Take care,