We have all heard of the power of forgiveness. But did you know there are octane ratings (aka the feeling of empowerment) to the power of forgiveness?
For example: Forgiving an enemy has a higher-octane rating than forgiving a friend. Similarly, forgiving a thief that stole your wallet or purse has a higher-octane rating than someone who scratched your car. Then there are further nuances within the forgiveness octane ratings. For example, the difference between forgiving someone who scratched your car by mistake versus someone who did it deliberately.
Among the innumerable scenarios where forgiving empowers the forgiver, there is one type of forgiveness that has stood the test of time and has the highest-octane rating of all – The power to forgive oneself. Typically, this is the Achilles heel of forgiveness for most of us. Here too there are varying octane ratings, but the curious thing is that in this case, the level of difficulty is the same regardless of those variations. Tough.
When it comes to forgiving ourselves, for some of us blurting out a movie spoiler can be just as difficult to forgive as say not being there for a friend in need. Sure, one is more serious than the other but the challenge for most people lies in the inability to forgive oneself, not in the number of opportunities we are presented to do so. So how do we forgive ourselves?
This is just the start of our conversation with, and there is plenty more to discuss when it comes to forgiveness so tune in next quarter to resume discussion where we left.
Don’t want to miss it? Subscribe to get a quarterly blog in your inbox.
Can’t wait that long? Contact Toniya today.