Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Forgiveness is a journey of its own. Life does not always happen for us the way we planned or envisioned. Those in our lives cause us pain with hurtful words or actions, which you may still find difficult to let go. So too, your own reactivity could still haunt you today. Forgiveness does take time, sometimes months, possibly years. But, I believe it is a path that we must have the courage to undertake to experience the true fullness and richness this life has to offer. Forgiving yourself and those you believe have caused you pain is how your soul grows, expands and this is how you transform. In forgiveness, you are liberated.

I also believe that those we believe have brought pain into our lives is here to teach us a lesson. Your soul is here to grow from the challenges, setbacks, and the heartache. This is how your soul expands. You transform by growing from the lessons – and by transcending the pain. It happens for you. Whatever the trial, it is what your soul chose to experience and overcome, allowing you to further align with your essence, your divinity.

Your soul signed up to experience lessons that would test your resolve. You felt the anger, the deep sadness, the rage, the contempt, and went through the full gamut of human emotions that you thought you would never overcome. But when you forgive yourself and those who hurt you, you transcend limitations. These are limits that keep you stuck in the past.

When you hold anger, resentment, hate, or a lack of forgiveness within you, it does not hurt the other person, it truly does only hurt you. I know this because I experienced it myself. I have been very open, candid about my own space of suffering. Almost four years ago, after the close of a seventeen year marriage, I cycled through heavy, dark, painful emotions and was unsure whether the darkness, heaviness, and pain would ever truly lift.

It took me years to fully forgive myself. I held myself accountable for too long, for leaving an unhappy partnership. I also held a great amount of anger and resentment against my now ex husband that was eating me up on the inside. This had a profound effect on my mental, physical, and emotional health. I felt tired, anxious, and full of rage, constantly, for months on end. I also experienced a health scare, a benign skin lesion on my face which was yet another warning signal from the Universe that the time had come to change my perception of the past – and embrace true forgiveness.

It was a very difficult, painful period of my life but I realized I had to forgive myself, my ex, and others I believed caused me pain. Looking at the past from a higher perspective helps your soul transcend the hurt, the angst, the suffering. This is how you find your freedom, by forgiving it all. When you cling to memories of the past (i.e.. painful emotions, relationships, possessions lost) you rob your soul from living freely.

Suffering is part of being human. Your soul came here to experience these deep emotions – and to transcend them. When you hold onto lower vibrational energies (i.e.. anger, jealousy, sadness, animosity, lack of forgiveness), you create blocks in your chakras (energy centers) – and in your life.

Energy blockages prevent you from experiencing the abundance and prosperity the Universe wants to gift you (ie. love relationship, career, health, happiness). Your soul elected to experience challenges, meant for soul growth and expansion. But your healing, growth and transformation occurs when you release, let go and transcend the pain.

When you hold true compassion in your heart for yourself and others for past hurts, you free your soul. You can forgive, heal, move on, honor the experience – and fully accept your journey. Your soul yearned for this lesson. Your forgiveness leads to your inner transformation.

You are infinite. You are like the evergreen tree. You were created to withstand the harshest winters, most brutal winds. Your trials in this life happened for you. Unbending, unyielding, you grew mightier in spite of it all. And your life challenge helped you move past the humanly imposed limitations, not aligned with the expansiveness of your soul. In letting go of your past pains, you liberate your soul.

Free your soul by allowing the rage, the deep sadness, and resentment to surface. Sit with each emotion fully, as you experience them. By repressing your feelings, you prolong your healing. When you do not heal, you block your abundance. True happiness and freedom is found in your inner healing.

Acknowledge the anger, feel it within your being and let it flow through your emotional body. Do this with each emotion that rises up to be healed. This is why they are surfacing, so that they can be healed, let go and the energy transmuted. Release the negative energy out into the Universe for transmutation.

Continue to accept, acknowledge, surrender to the flow of energy, and release each painful emotion that surfaces out into the earth’s atmosphere. As you heal, release, and let go, the intensity of the emotion will lessen. You heal your heart and your soul through this process of letting go.

You can send the energy out into the atmosphere with a positive mental or verbal intention: “I am releasing this negative energy, out into the Universe to be transmuted into positive energy.” All is made of energy. Your thoughts, actions, and words are all created of energy. When you think, speak, or act, you want the energy to be of a higher vibration. So, in releasing the negative energy, your intention would be transform it into positive energy so that those around you and the planet absorb only positive energies.

You may also hold onto anger you are directing toward yourself. You could have said things, done things, for which you have not yet forgiven yourself. This is harmful on a mental, physical, emotional – and soulful level. Begin by forgiving yourself. Use affirmations to help you do this. “I love and accept myself exactly as I am.” “I forgive myself for everything I said and have done.” “I heal my soul as I forgive myself and others.” Be patient with this process and know that the pain will lift in time. The anger will abate. The resentment will eventually subside. As you heal, release, and transmute the negative energy, your heart and your soul will mend.

As you engage in this healing work, have utmost compassion for yourself. Be kind to yourself. Understand it is part of the journey to falter, to take two steps back on the path to forgiving yourself and those who have hurt you. Tomorrow is yet another opportunity to begin again. Know that choosing to forgive is in alignment with the higher vibration of the Universe, Spirit or Source. By forgiving, you release lower energy and allow your energy body to vibrate at a higher frequency. In doing this, you align with the abundance and prosperity that surrounds you.

Self-care and self-love are two key pieces on the path to true healing and forgiveness. Take time for yourself, show yourself loving kindness by honoring who you are and all you have been through. You can do this by: creating time for a ‘good read’ of a book you have been wanting to dive into. Or sitting oceanside, allowing the peace and tranquility of Mother Nature to envelop you, releasing all your worries and cares into the water before you. You could also choose to draw a warm, healing Himalayan salt bath or indulge in ‘Archangel Chamuel’s’ self-love bath, which is one of my favorite self-love remedies.

For your self-love bath: you will need five pink (color of the heart chakra) candles, rose water, lavender oil and half a dozen pink roses. Place the candles safely around your bathtub. Add a capful of rose water into the warm bath water and about ten drops of lavender oil. Sprinkle the rose petals into the bath water. Step in and enjoy this time. It is a gift you are giving yourself. Each moment you love yourself and engage in small acts of self-care, you step further into healing your heart and your soul.

Use this opportunity to take charge of your life. Your relationships, especially the one you have with yourself is most important. Remember that you have all you need to succeed on your life’s journey. Your soul knows what it needs to get though the hardest, darkest days. You simply need help to remember. Know that you are never alone and are loved, guided, healed and protected by a Universe that wants you to recognize your true essence, rid of all that holds you back, and experience all the happiness that awaits your liberated soul.

In true forgiveness, you heal yourself. And in letting go, you heal the planet.

Much love,

Simone