Practicing forgiveness removes anger and negativity from your life. It can improve your mental health and set you free from past trauma, leaving you free to grow as a person.

But learning how to forgive can be difficult. It may seem like too big of an obstacle to overcome and you might not know where to begin. Often, it goes against our instincts to forgive and let go.

Learning to forgive is vital, as it creates more space for happiness and fulfillment. This article is here to help you uncover the road to forgiveness and how it can serve as a transformation of your life.

It covers how forgiveness begins with you and how you can reflect on the situation. We also talk about the process of forgiveness and how you cannot rush it.

1. Choose Forgiveness for Yourself

When it comes to forgiveness, you have to focus on yourself first. Often, in situations where we felt hurt, angry, and upset, we hold on to emotions for a long time. Over time, this ends up hurting us more than the people we need to forgive.

Built-up emotions can create a lot of stress and anxiety and can keep you trapped in negativity. Every time you think of the event that caused the trauma, the hormone cortisol gets released. This can elevate your blood pressure and long term can make you vulnerable to becoming sick.

It can also take up a lot of time and energy ruminating on the hurt and pain. This energy could be better spent moving you onward and upward. But sometimes we avoid these feelings because they are uncomfortable to deal with.

The best way to deal with these emotions is to embody them and then find a physical release for them.

This could be writing a letter to the one who hurt us and then tearing it up. Or find an object that represents your feelings. Then consciously release it, like a coin into a fountain.

Another amazing way to work through your feelings is taking a forgiveness workshop. They allow you to be among people with similar problems in a supportive environment.

These workshops help you visualize your goals for change. It also provides a fantastic way to connect with others on the same journey and make friends for life. The impact of taking part in these workshops spans much further than the event itself.

Choosing to forgive is an empowering decision and it can impact all areas of our lives. But, this comes with the caveat that just because you forgive, doesn’t mean that you forget. Remembering these situations is important to prevent them from happening again.

2. Take the Opportunity for Reflection

There are often a lot of hurt feelings involved in forgiveness. But there is also opportunity. This is a time that you can consider and reflect on the situation, how you feel and what you have learned.

Reflection can help us make the right choices as we come out the other side of being burnt. It can also give clarity on what forgiveness means to us.

Working through forgiveness develops our sense of self, inner strength, and security. If we can learn to overcome these challenging situations, then it shows us that we can heal ourselves. No one else can do that for us, we have the keys to break free.

You can also reflect on the situation through the lens of empathy. You can try to understand why you or another person acted the way they did. That person may have been struggling at the time and acted out because they were afraid and upset.

Once you can understand the other person, it is easier to find ways to forgive them. It will also help you to put boundaries in place to stop it from happening again in the future.

Another way to understand how you forgive people is to take my online quiz. This will tell you your unique forgiveness archetype.

This is a very valuable tool on your road to true freedom. The results of the quiz can help to guide reflection, and when taking your next steps.

3. Don’t Rush Forgiveness

Forgiveness is something that takes time and it is not something to rush. You need to feel comfortable with your decision to forgive, or you may harbor resentment.

Take time during the forgiveness process to repair and rebuild your relationship. You may need time to create trust again and help us to accept the situation.

When you are forgiving someone else, or even yourself, remember that it is a process. Often the reasons that we need to forgive are complicated, and it is not as simple as “I’m sorry”.

Journalling through the process could be helpful for you, as you can look back and see how far you have come. It may also help you to puzzle things out, as new emotions may come and go with time.

Remember to have patience with yourself. Forgiveness isn’t easy. But, as you practice it becomes easier, like training a muscle!

Begin Your Transformation Today

Forgiveness is essential for letting go of negative past experiences and ideas. Reflecting on what forgiveness means to us can help us heal and grow. And with forgiveness comes transformation.

Going on a transformation journey may seem overwhelming to do alone. Working with a transformational life coach is one of the most effective ways to set off on that path. They can support you through the highs and lows of your forgiveness journey.

If you want to learn more about life transformation counseling then I would love to hear from you. Get in touch today to book your discovery call, so we can work on building a life you are proud of.