When people behave irrationally,
trampling upon you, it is time for you to practice forgiveness.
There is no point in grieving over others’
behavior. Because you have no control over them. What you can control is how
you react. Forgiveness needs to and must be cultivated. This does not mean you
give up your stand or stop being firm in a situation. Fight the issue, fight
the good fight, be dogged about what you believe is right, including the way
you want to be treated, but forgive the person.
The practice of forgiveness involves
training your mind using three steps: 1. Give the situation love. Send peaceful
thoughts and energy to that person. This may be initially difficult, because
the very thought of that person may make you feel angry. But keep at it. Keep
saying, “May everything that this person wants to achieve in Life, and with me,
be possible and may there always be light, happiness and peace in this person’s
Life”. 2. Find ways to communicate to the person what your stand or views on
the issue you are fighting over are. Avoid getting even. Stick to the point.
Text messaging or sending a simple email are good options for such a purpose.
Remember a physical interface can only aggravate and lead to a verbal duel. 3.
Work hard on not revisiting that hurt. Immerse yourself in what gives you joy.
Music, children, work, nature...whatever; keep reminding your mind that you don’t
want to think about the hurt. The most
important reason why you must forgive and move on__irrespective of your stand
on the issue__is that you__and I__are created to be happy and not in grief. You
may, however, stick to your stand on the issue itself, doing whatever it takes
to right the wrong that you believe has been committed.
Gandhi led the way and his Life with this idea
of forgiveness. He would always champion this in his practice of ahimsa: “I cannot hate anybody, least of
all an Englishman. But I hate the way the English rule our country and will
fight their way till the very end.”
Big learning there. Holding on to a
resentful episode at a personal level means you are continuing to hurt. This
will only chew you up, keep you unhappy and in pain. When you walk away, with
forgiveness in your heart, from a hurtful, resentful situation, you are walking
tall. And you are walking away happy. Doesn’t that matter
the most?
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