For this week’s mindfulness challenge all you need is a stone and magic marker.
Several years ago, I got this crazy idea that I was going to forgive everyone who had ever done me wrong. I wanted to make sure I was healed from any past hurts before I moved forward.
Nobody was left out. Beginning from the earliest childhood memories, I worked my way through my life up until the present time. I wrote each of their names on a stone and placed it in a bucket.
Once I had gotten everyone’s name on a stone, I took the bucket to my pond.
I closed my eyes and grabbed a stone. Opening my eyes, I looked at the name written on the stone. I held it tightly as I spoke their name out loud. Then stated what I was forgiving them for. I wished them the best in life. Then I threw the stone into the pond. I continued until all the stones were gone from my bucket.
Once I was done, I sat there for a bit to be aware of how it made me feel. I was surprised how much weight I felt had lifted off my shoulders. Now each time I go to my pond, I know that all my pain is sitting at the bottom. It doesn’t sit inside me any longer.
If I find any old feelings coming back to me, a visit back to my pond and a little wish for those people is all it takes to feel at peace again.
I know there are some who have a hard time forgiving people and I understand that. I am one of them! Remember this though, most people do not intend to hurt us. Good people make bad decisions sometimes at the moment. It doesn’t make them bad people.
Then there are those that set out to hurt us with intention. Those people will tell you they are sorry only to do the same thing to you again. Trust me I get it I know those are the ones that are hardest to forgive. The best way to think of them is that at some point in their life someone has hurt them, and they never dealt with that hurt. Like the saying goes. Hurt people, hurt people. Once you understand this it’s easier to let go of those who hurt us.
Forgiveness isn’t about giving others the opportunity to hurt us again. It isn’t saying ok I’ve forgiven you come back into my life. That’s not it at all. You can’t control others or their actions. Forgiveness is for you and you only. It’s about letting go of that person and how they’ve hurt you, so you can move on.
Your mindfulness challenge for the next week is this:
Forgive someone.
You don’t necessarily have to fill a bucket or start from the beginning of your life, but you can if you choose. Pick the person you feel has hurt you the most. Write their name on a stone.
Hold the stone tightly in your hand and with everything you have and say their name. Say what they did to you and why you are choosing to forgive them. Tell them anything you would like that you may have never gotten the chance to at the time. Once you are done, wish them the best most awesome life they could ever have.
If you are near a pond throw it in. If there is no water near you, bury the Stone in the ground. It doesn’t matter either way as long as you know that your forgiveness is nearby.
You can sign up for our weekly mindfulness challenges here.
Other articles you may have missed:
Mantras, What Are They and Why We Need to Say Them?
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