“Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a better yesterday.”
~ Jim Lockard. Author, Speaker, Coach, former Law Enforcement
I chuckled when I read this quote ~ and thought to myself “Boy howdy! Ain’t that the truth!”
I had recently been spending time refocusing on some kidhood memories and lifestyle, the positives and the negatives ~ and even the stuff ‘in between’ where I wasn’t sure where to categorize it. (Soon discovered I didn’t need to categorize those times ~ they were simply ‘times’.)
I’ve done this type journey work often, usually when a here-and-now event triggers a heavy-emotion reaction. Pausing. Breathing. Agreeing to look again. Letting go of additional layers of funk ~ grieving when I am led to ~ celebrating times of grace ~ enjoying memory-moments of awe or joy. Powerlessness and Empowerment.
Nice!
I am not averse to stepping into this place of exploration. I have had too-many-to-count experiences of growth, release, acceptance, future-enticements, to cease this practice now! A number of folks have made comments such as “I thought you did your (fill in the blank: family-of-origin/family-of-creation/ACOA/codep/relationship/OPO/spiritual-discovery) work?!“
I have.
And like the proverbial peel-an-onion, the more outer layers previously recognized and ‘discarded’ leave smaller, finer, core-er layers to explore. Those deeper button-pushers which were concealed by the previous outer layers ….and blatant chaos that existed Then.
This is Now.
So ~ the more I explore, understand, discard, find the gift, the more I experience the paradox of fuller and lighter. Sorta like being a cork in my pond of life. Boyant. Freer. Liberated and Optimistic.
Nice way to travel! Less baggage. Less to declare. And…. “customs” becomes a breeze.
Namaste’