You want to open your arms and your heart to welcome love into your life. It’s human. It’s natural. It is inseparable from the positive energies that flow through your body. It should be as automatic as breathing, shouldn’t it? And yet, it’s a struggle for many of us. Love can seem unattainable; something reserved for other people who are more deserving. Love and happiness seem to flow toward these people effortlessly. If you lose touch with yourself, you might begin to believe that you are unworthy. That’s not true. You are worthy of sharing love and happiness.
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What can be blocking you from a more meaningful life?
Shadows.
When you hang on to negative feelings, you inadvertently create shadows in your life.
Shadows are negative energy that dilutes or overwhelms your natural positive energy. You’ll know it’s happening when your life feels as though it isn’t flowing freely. You feel uneasy in your own skin. You’ve suppressed the loving person inside you. Life is off kilter.
What are shadows?
You’ve seen cartoons where a dark cloud follows a character around, indicating that the character brings bad experiences wherever they go? These are fictitious, of course, but illustrative.
Your shadows are more ominous. You may inadvertently create shadows when you hold on to a past situation, emotion, or feeling that doesn’t support your loving nature. They pollute the rivers of positive energy the flows through your body to inhibit your ability to give or receive love.
What kinds of things create shadows?
You create your own shadows. Like a ship collecting barnacles, your journey through life will collect experiences that may be difficult to shed. Here are examples of things that might prompt you to create a shadow:
Regret. You find it difficult to forgive yourself for something you said or did.
Sadness. You remain fixated on something sorrowful.
Hurt. Emotional wounds are often difficult to heal.
Fear. It can be challenging to enjoy life when you afraid to love or act.
Guilt. You continue feeling badly about something you did or said a long time ago.
Blame. You keep pointing fingers to rationalize negative consequences caused by you or someone else.
Anger. You become agitated when you recall a wrong that you’ve caused or suffered.
Resentment. You feel bitter about someone else’s good fortune that you thought was rightfully yours.
Revenge. You burn inside with a desire to get even.
When you carry these emotions with you and refuse to let them go, their shadows lock you in the past and stop you from living in the moment. They keep you from enjoying a fulfilling life, from accepting or giving love.
How can you eliminate shadows?
The most effective thing to do is accept how forgiveness heals.
Forgiveness is the first step on the journey to welcoming love into your life. It enables you to release your negative energies and embrace the positive energies that empower you to live a richer life filled with love.
What is forgiveness?
You can learn to forgive because forgiveness is a choice. You intentionally choose to forgive yourself and to forgive others.
It’s up to you: you can choose to keep carrying negative shadow energy, or you can choose to live a happier, more fulfilling life. Choose happiness. You deserve it. You have all the necessary tools within you.
Think of forgiveness as an opportunity to release all the shadows that you’ve accumulated over the course of your life. Forgiveness is the key to removing the heaviness that you carry in your heart.
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Why is forgiveness so difficult?
Forgiveness is healing in nature and yet it is a challenging concept for many of us. It can be hard for you to face because it entails accepting responsibility for your feelings and actions.
Accepting responsibility doesn’t mean beating yourself up over the past but acknowledging to yourself that you can control how you feel and what you do. It’s a matter of embracing the truth that, moving forward through life, you have the power to steer the rudder of your own ship.
Owning your feelings and behaviors will make you stronger and reinforce how forgiveness heals the rivers of life energy that flow vertically through your body.
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What are misconceptions about forgiveness?
There are two common misconceptions about the nature of forgiveness. Naysayers will equate forgiveness with weakness or spinelessness. They couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Here are common fallacies about forgiveness:
Forgiveness involves apologizing or condoning injurious behavior. Quite to the contrary, forgiveness simply involves the joyful act of releasing the negative energy that you’ve been holding onto and thereby setting yourself free of the shadows to thrive and grow through your positive energies.
Forgiveness means that you allow negative behavior to persist in your life. Wrong. You can set boundaries for yourself and others.
What tools do you have for forgiveness?
Learning how forgiveness heals may seem daunting, but you have tools at your disposal. Here are the four main ones:
Self-Awareness
You can calmly take inventory of your emotions and experiences. Ask yourself: Whom must I forgive? What must I forgive myself for?
Chakras
Forgiveness is usually needed when your Heart Chakra and your Throat Chakra are blocked.
Your Heart Chakra needs healing when you experience feelings of self-loathing, grief, loss, or you become too self-centered. Forgiveness will heal this Chakra to emit energy that says you are a loveable and loving person.
Your Throat Chakra need healing when you find yourself lying to others or have difficulty standing up for yourself and your values or if you allow others to verbally bully you into silent submission. Forgiveness will heal this Chakra to emit energy that activates your right and ability to honestly own and communicate your feelings.
Crystals
Rose Quartz is the crystal of unconditional love.
Rhodonite stimulates love and compassion and can help you through troublesome situations.
Unakite Jasper brings emotional balance.
Affirmation
Speaking aloud or to yourself is powerful. In your own words, say something like, “I forgive (n), and I forgive myself. I release the energy that is holding me back and set myself free.”
Do this often to remind yourself of your choice to embrace forgiveness and to channel your positive energies through the healing power of forgiveness.
Final Thoughts
You are not condemned to carry the burden of negative energy that inhibits your ability to find and maintain loving relationships.
You have a right to happiness and the ability to emit positive energy that will empower you to project as a loveable and loving person.
The key that opens the door to fulfillment is forgiveness. It is the first step on your journey to welcoming love into your life.
You naturally possess tools for unlocking your ability to forgive.