Forgiveness Part Three – Use Your Imagination to Forgive And Change Your Life Now

Einstein once claimed that imagination was more important than knowledge. Through imagination, you can use all of your senses to learn, to change your life and the lives of everyone around you. You’ll learn how to do this In Part Three of our forgiveness series, as I summarize my radio interview with renowned forgiveness teacher, Dr. Juliet Rohde-Brown, author of Imagine Forgiveness: A Guide To A More Joyful Future

How do we use our imagination as a bridge into forgiveness?

This exercise helps you get into your body to duplicate the stressful sensations of unforgiveness and replace them with calm feelings of forgiveness:

Tighten and clench every part of your body, which shows you what you’re doing to yourself when you don’t forgive.

After you tighten up, then you let it go. Take a deep breath to tension and start breathing through your belly to ground yourself in calm feelings.

Now turn your thoughts to the most joyful moment in your life. See it, remember the smells, tastes, sounds or physical touch. Use your senses to re-experience the delight you felt in that moment.

Another way to experience joy is to go out in nature for walks. Take a rock and throw it back into the stream as you say to yourself, “I let this go.”

It is that easy for some people to let go of something they want to forgive. It’s more difficult for most of us and may require daily practice of taking each step in the forgiveness process that we’ve explained in this series.

Are there any other benefits of forgiveness we haven’t discussed?

Researchers have measured the effects of forgiveness in the person doing the forgiving and in the people around them. Forgiveness not only lifts your spirits and helps you radiate joy, it also has the same effect in people who spend time with you.

We have scientific proof that our emotional and spiritual energy is contagious. You have the power to experience and scatter joy when you practice forgiveness.

Remember that forgiveness is not about condoning hurtful behavior. It is not about going back into an abusive relationship. It is about expecting integrity and honorable behavior from people. It’s about calling them on wrongdoing and using the forgiveness process to protect your own health and happiness and improve the quality of your relationships.

Finally, I often tell my online community there is another way forgive your partner or yourself for mistakes you’ve made in a relationship. You remove blame and shame when you adopt this new attitude:

You can’t make mistakes in a relationship. You only make choices with love lessons attached like a bow. Learn the love lessons so you don’t have to repeat them. And give thanks to your greatest teachers for giving you the lessons you needed to learn in the moment in order to grow into a better, wiser, move loving You. With this attitude and gratitude for love lessons, you have nothing to forgive.

I’ve used this process to work through unforgiveness, anger and blame during the break up of my long, happy marriage. It is the secret of creating a graceful divorce like we did, or in revitalizing a relationship because getting good at forgiveness is how you start fresh and spark a lasting fire of love with your partner.

I encourage you to add forgiveness to your relationship success tool kit to experience even greater health, happiness and love. I’ll help you develop all the skills you need to be even more successful and build better relationships with everyone in your life when you begin our exciting, life-changing program at GreaterSuccessAndLove.com

Love deeply and live your dreams now,

Hadley Finch