Forgiveness is difficult, but it’s essential for your spiritual wellbeing. When we hold on to old hurts, we also retain the negative energies attached to the situation and the people that were involved, and this stops us moving forward. It keeps us anchored in the past, when we should be living with joy in the present moment, and it also impacts our future, because we put barriers in place to protect ourselves from further suffering. We feel we’ve ‘Learned our lesson,’ and we won’t allow the same situation to arise again, yet the truth of the matter is very different.
For all we talk of different emotions – love, hate, envy, jealousy, happiness, bitterness, fear – there are only two things we need to concern ourselves with. All our choices, and the way they impact on our lives, originate from two positions, a place of fear or a place of love. What does this mean in practical terms though?
Fear
Fear is not just being scared of stuff, whether it’s in our minds, in real life or in the movies. Fear is the term we use for all negative emotions, and it arises from the ego, the part of us that wants to stay in the comfort zone, protect us from danger and hurt, and keep out the bad stuff. There’s nothing wrong with looking out for ourselves, it’s the only responsible thing to do, but if you come from a place of fear, for example, refusing to forgive someone for real or perceived past hurts, all you are doing is creating more bitterness in your life.
That’s because fear is a negative energy, and under the Law of Attraction, what we focus on is what we get more of. The universe only knows that if you spend a lot of time and energy on bearing a grudge or putting up barriers around your heart, it must be important to you, so you attract more negative situations into your life. The good news is, you can change your focus and shift your energy, and the way to do that is to make your choices from love, not fear.
Love
Love isn’t just about the hearts and flowers stuff, fabulous as that may be. Love is the opposite of fear, it’s the positive energy that allows you to connect with your soul and make your choices for the right reasons. It’s about trusting that all will be well, whatever may be happening around you, because you know, deep down, that everything happens for a reason, and sometimes bad things need to be played out to make room for the blessings that are coming in.
So, how do we work with the positive energy of love? It’s easier than you think, because we are born to love, but life teaches us to fear. It comes down to whether we react to what’s happening around us, or whether we respond. Love is the energy of response, because we accept that everything happens for a reason, and what we can’t change, we need to accept and learn from so we can move forward. Put simply, instead of wondering why something is happening to you, ask yourself what you can learn from the situation to improve your life. That’s working from love rather than fear. Focus on the love, and the universe will bring more blessings into your life, because like attracts like.
Now we are clear on the perspectives of love and fear, how does this relate to forgiveness, and why does it matter to us? For a start, if you are replaying old hurts, whether real or perceived, it’s anchoring you in the past, and preventing you from fully enjoying the present. And since everything is energy, each time you think about or talk about the situation, you are reinforcing the energetic ties to a time, place and people that belong in your past. No matter how justified your feelings may be, they are not serving you, so you need to distance yourself so you can move forward, having learned the lesson. Everything, good or bad, carries a lesson for us, or for someone else involved in the situation. If we didn’t need to learn from it, it just wouldn’t happen. The universe doesn’t send challenges because it has it in for us, in fact the opposite is true. Nothing happens ‘just because,’ if we are on the wrong path, or we need to acknowledge something about ourselves that we have been ignoring, then something will happen to bring about the necessary changes. So what is forgiveness really, and how do we extend it to those who have hurt us?
Forgiveness
Jeremiel is not one of the more widely known archangels, but he’s the go-to angel for help with forgiveness, whether you need to forgive yourself or others. Yes, you heard that right. Sometimes, we are our own worse critics, and we blame ourselves for stuff all the time. That impacts on how we see ourselves, and again, it can bring negative energy in its wake, so it’s important to acknowledge that we need to show forgiveness to ourselves as well as others.
Archangel Jeremiel’s name means ‘Mercy of God,’ and of course, to forgive, we must show mercy to others, and he can help us with that. As with any angel, you can invoke Jeremiel’s help simply by inviting him into your life. Remember we need to ask the angels for help, as we have free will. Jeremiel will help you let go of the past and acknowledge the lessons learned, so you can continue to learn and grow. He can help you understand how and why certain situations came about, and that understanding will help you avoid repeating patterns that don’t serve your highest good.
Jeremiel is also known as the Angel of Visions, Dreams and Life Review, so the best time to invoke him is at night, when he can bring insights and wisdom as you sleep. However, this forgiveness visualisation can be carried out whenever it suits you best, and Jeremiel will happily help you with it.
Sit comfortably, with your feet on the floor and your back straight. Rest your hands on your thighs, palms up, in the receiving position. Close your eyes, and take three deep, calming breaths. Breath in white, cleansing light for a count of three, hold for three, then exhale any stress and tensions to a count of three. If you want, you can call on Archangel Jeremiel to help with the process. Whether you feel his energy or not, know that he is there with you. Now you are ready to visualize open-hearted forgiveness.
Visualisation for opening the heart and forgiving those who hurt you
- Place your hands over your heart, left hand below the right. Visualise a small pin prick of pink light under your hands, in your heart space. This is your soul’s unconditional love, and it’s always there for you to access and expand. You may feel a warm glow as the visualisation progresses.
- See this pin prick grow until it fills your whole chest cavity, then see it expand outside your body and surround it. Think of the Ready Brek advert, where the kids are surrounded by warmth. This is you now. Enjoy the feeling of pure love this brings with it for a few moments.
- Now see the person who needs your forgiveness in front of you, but not too close. Expand the soul’s love from your open heart until it also surrounds them. You are now connected by unconditional love. Feel it warming you.
- Say the following words, or something similar of your own choosing: What’s done is done, I forgive, I move on. Repeat this three times, out loud or inwardly, and finish by saying the blessing, And so it is.
- Now it’s time to bring back your soul love to where it belongs, at your heart centre. Visualise the glow around the other person returning to you, and then bring it back inside your body until you are back to the pin prick spark of soul love you started with. If you invoked Archangel Jeremiel, thank him for his help. Bring yourself back into the here and now and open your eyes. It is done.
