A Releasing Ritual: Forgiveness Letters

A common theme that most of my clients share and the collective is the need to practice forgiveness.  We have all had someone that have wronged us to the point where we may have experienced intense rage, resentment or questioned our level of "participation"  of allowing someone to hurt us.  Guess what?  We're human and sometimes our experiences with people feel like a blow to the spirit, the feeling is so strong that we tend to make it a ball of poison and store it in our body.  If held on for too long, the poison creates imbalances in the body.  Holding on to resentments can lead to heart problems, muscle aches, headaches, tight muscles, etc.  No one deserves that type of stress on the body.

Ready to forgive and move on?
Are past situations replaying in your head?
Do you experience the same emotion every time you think about someone or a certain situation?

You can start releasing by writing a forgiveness letter.  Forgiveness letters are used to release old emotions through writing.  You can write as many as you want.  The first person that I will suggest writing a letter to is YOURSELF.  We are our worst critics and at times we can slip into holding ourselves to this standard of "perfection" that doesn't exist.  Forgive yourself. Below is a forgiveness ritual you can include in your daily practice:

Step 1: Pick an odd number of days that you want to do the forgiveness ritual. (The deeper the hurt, the longer amount of days you might want to do this)
Step 2:  Pick the person or situation that you want to write your letter to.
Step 3: Write the letter in red ink (red is a power color, that makes shit happen fast).
Step 4: Read this letter to yourself everyday out loud for the time period you've chosen.   If you skip a day, you must start over. (If you get emotional, that is perfectly ok, your body is ridding itself of old emotions)
During this phase, pay attention to the feelings you're experiencing and journal them.  While doing releasing work, it's always a good rule of thumb to have something sweet or nurturing to fill in what you released.  That can be your favorite essential oil, diffusing in the house or you can simply rub a few drops in your hand until you create heat and inhale the scent.  You can also make sure you always have fresh flowers in the house or take walks in nature.  Get creative as you want!
Step 5: Once you complete your timeframe, take assessment of how you feel afterwards.  Are you feeling lighter? Heavier?
Step 6: The final release.  Once you've fully completed your timeframe of forgiveness, it's time to release your letter(s)  in the elements.  You can burn, release it in water or just tear it into tiny pieces and throw it in the trash outside of your home.

The forgiveness letter is a jumpstart in your forgiveness practices.  You might need to write more than one letter or spend an entire year on forgiveness.  Every journey is different and there's no need to rush it.  Remember to be gentle with yourself.  

If you do feel that you need get medical attention, therapy or counseling for deeply rooted resentments.  Seek your local healthcare professional.

Forgiveness if giving yourself the freedom to float on.

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